Planar Beam-forming Antenna Array for 60-GHz Broadband

184 Pages·2009·4.65 MB·English

Planar Beam-forming Antenna Array for
60-GHz Broadband Communication

Planar Beam-forming Antenna Array for
60-GHz Broadband Communication
PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de
Rector Magnificus, prof.dr.ir. C.J. van Duijn, voor een
commissie aangewezen door het College voor
Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen
op maandag 16 maart 2009 om 16.00 uur
door
Johannes Antonius Gerardus Akkermans
geboren te Wouw
Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotoren:
prof.dr.ir. E.R. Fledderus
en
prof.Dr.-Ing. T. Ku¨rner
Copromotor:
dr.ir. M.H.A.J. Herben
AcataloguerecordisavailablefromtheEindhovenUniversityofTechnologyLibrary.
CIP-DATA LIBRARY TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN
Akkermans, Johannes A.G.
Planar Beam-forming Antenna Array for 60-GHz Broadband Communication / by
Johannes A.G. Akkermans. - Eindhoven : Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, 2009.
Proefschrift. - ISBN 978-90-386-1528-8
NUR 959
Trefwoorden: millimetergolf antennes / antennestelsels / antenne metingen / bun-
delvorming / elektromagnetisme ; numerieke methoden / antenne optimalisatie /
antenne verpakking.
Subject Headings: millimetre-wave antennas / antenna arrays / antenna measure-
ments / beam-forming / computational electromagnetics / antenna optimisation /
antenna packaging.
c 2009 by J.A.G. Akkermans, Eindhoven
(cid:13)
Cover title “Riding the millimeter wave”; cover design by Johannes Akkermans.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or
anyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem, withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionof
the copyright owner.
Typeset using LATEX, printed by PrintPartners Ipskamp, Enschede, the Netherlands.

Samenstelling van de promotiecommissie:
prof. dr. ir. A.C.P.M. Backx, voorzitter
prof. dr. ir. E.R. Fledderus, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, eerste promotor
prof. Dr.-Ing. T. Ku¨rner, Technische Universit¨at Braunschweig, tweede promotor
dr. ir. M.H.A.J. Herben, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, co-promotor
dr. ir. P.F.M. Smulders, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
prof. dr. ir. D. de Zutter, Universiteit Gent
dr. ir. D. Liu, Thomas J. Watson Research Center
dr. ir. M.C. van Beurden, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
ThestudiespresentedinthisthesishavebeenperformedintheElectromagneticsand
Wireless group, department of Electrical Engineering of the Eindhoven University of
Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
The work leading to this thesis has been performed within the SiGi-Spot project
(IGC0503) that is part of the IOP-GenCom programme of Senternovem, an agency
of the Dutch ministry of Economic affairs.
SiGi Sp t
Summary i
ii
Summary
The 60-GHz frequency band can be employed to realise the next-generation wireless
high-speed communication that is capable of handling data rates of multiple gigabits
per second. Advances in silicon technology allow the realisation of low-cost radio fre-
quency (RF) front-end solutions. Still, to obtain the link-budget that is required for
wireless gigabit-per-second communication, antenna arrays are needed that have suf-
ficient gain and that support beam-forming. This requires the realisation of antenna
arrays that maintain a high radiation efficiency while operating at millimeter-wave
frequencies. Moreover, the antenna array and the RF front-end should be integrated
into a single low-cost package that can be realised in a standard production process.
In this work, an antenna solution is presented that meets these requirements.
Therelevantproductionprocessesthatcanbeusedforantennasandpackagingrealise
planar multi-layered structures. Therefore, the modelling of passive electromagnetic
structures in stratified media is investigated. A computationally efficient modelling
technique is employed that provides an in-depth analysis of the physical behaviour of
the electromagnetic structure. The modelling technique is used to design an antenna
element that can be realised in planar technology and that can be placed in an array
configuration. This antenna element is named the balanced-fed aperture-coupled
patch antenna. In the design, the radiation efficiency is optimised through the use
of two distant coupling apertures that minimise surface-wave losses and significantly
enlarge the bandwidth of the antenna. To improve the front-to-back ratio, a reflector
element is introduced. Both these design strategies are used together for the first
time, to enhance the global efficiency of the antenna. The antenna is realised in
printed circuit-board (PCB) technology. To validate the performance of the antenna
element, a special measurement setup is developed that characterises the bandwidth
and radiation pattern of millimeter-wave antennas.
To maximise the performance of the antenna, an optimisation algorithm is presented
that optimises the bandwidth and radiation efficiency of the antenna element. This
algorithm gives the designer the flexibility to obtain the best antenna design for the
iv
considered application. Hereafter, the antenna element is placed in an array config-
uration that enables beam-forming. The performance of the beam-forming antenna
array is investigated in terms of radiation efficiency, bandwidth and gain. Measure-
ments of realised antenna arrays show that the antenna array can be employed to
obtain the required gain under beam-forming conditions.
Furthermore, the integration of the antenna array and the RF front-end is investi-
gated. The packaging of antenna array and RF front-end is discussed and a demon-
strator is realised in PCB technology that integrates an RF power amplifier and an
antenna element. It is shown that planar technology can be successfully employed to
realiseapackagethatembedstheantennaarrayandthatsupportstheRFfront-end.
The presented concepts can be readily used for the realisation of a transceiver pack-
agethatembedsabeam-formingantennaarrayandthatsupportsgigabit-per-second
communication.