A 14-17.2 GHz Dual-Polarized 256-Element Transmit Phased-Array with 40 dBW EIRP

This paper presents a 256-element Ku-band dual- polarized transmit phased-array with wide operation frequency range. The array is based on 64 commercial beamformer chips in SiGe technology with 2x2 configuration. T he c hip h as 6-bit of phase control and 25 dB gain tuning range. The 256-element phased-array operates at 13.75-17.2 GHz and has a measured EIRP of 40 dBW at Psat in circular polarized (CP) mode. The phased-array scans to +/-60° in both azimuth and elevation planes with low sidelobes, and it achieves <-25 dB cross polarization levels at all scan angles after calibration. The array also achieves a radiated coherent EIRP noise of -101.4 dBm/Hz, which together with 70 dBm of radiated EIRP, result in 111 dB of dynamic range per MHz of bandwidth. The 256-element array can also be configured a s d ual-beam m ode i n w hich e ach 128-element sub-array can be operated independently. To our knowledge, this presents the first s tate-of-art wide b andwidth K u-band transmit phased-array with applications areas in Ku-band communication and radar systems.