DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF AN X-BAND ACTIVE REFLECT-ARRAY

WITH 137 MESFET AMPLIFIERS

Ashley W. Robinsontt, Marek E. Bialkowski', Hyok J. Song'

'Filtronic Components Australia * Computer Science and Electrical

43 Metroplex Avenue Engineering Dept.
Murarrie, Queensland 4170 Australia University of Queensland
Ashleyr@filtronic.com.au St Lucia Queensland 4072 Australia
E-mail: meb@csee.uq.edu.au

ABSTRACT
The development of a 137-element active reflect-array with MESFET amplifiers operating at X-band
is presented. The array uses dual feed aperture coupled patch antennas to reduce the element size and
allow for a tighter packing density. Test results for the array, including gain and radiation pattem at
two frequencies, are presented to allow discussion of the array performance.

INTRODUCTION
Arrays of microstrip patches fed by a circuit network [l], and microstrip reflect-arrays [2], [3] fed by
a hom antenna, have been proposed as a replacement for the frequently used parabolic reflector
antenna. These structures each have their own advantages and disadvantages, such as the fully planar
format of the microstrip patch array but with conduction losses in the feed network for large, highly
directive, arrays. The reflect-array features a fully planar reflector, however, the entire structure
including the feed is 3-dimensional. In comparison with the microstrip array with the circuit-type feed
network, its advantage is that the feed losses are reduced. This is because the hom and the array act as
a spatial power combiner, for which conductive losses are negligible.
In comparison with a conventional parabolic reflector, both planar microstrip arrays and reflect-arrays
feature a reduced bandwidth. The reason is that in order to efficiently combine power in a given
direction in space, as measured in terms of the directive gain, microstrip patch elements require a
suitable phasing, which can only be achieved over a limited bandwidth before beam squint occurs.
In addition to exploring them as antennas, the most recent interest has been to use microstrip patch
arrays as spatial power combiners of solid state sources, in which transistor oscillators or amplifiers
[4] augment passive patches. Previous reflect-arrays presented in the literature have been passive
reflectors only. In the present paper, an active reflect-array is considered as a candidate for a spatial
power combiner of transistor amplifiers.

ARRAY DESIGN
The 137 elements of the active reflect-array use a combination of an aperture coupled patch antenna
and a MESFET amplifier. To minimise spacing between elements in the array, the aperture coupled
patch antenna has dual, orthogonal, feeds with 'dog-bone' slots. These dual feed antennas allow for
much greater packing density in the array than would be possible if separate antennas were used for
receive and transmit. A return loss of better than lOdB is achieved for this antenna element across a
frequency range of llGHz to 11.7GHz with a minimum isolation between the feeds of 13dB at
10.3GHz. This isolation sets the maximum gain possible for the active stage for stable, oscillation
free, operation, however as the gain approaches the isolation the gain ripple with respect to frequency

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 will increase. The wide bandwidth of the antenna is achieved through the use of a 1.3" thick foam
layer in between the 0.635" thick Rogers 6010 (dielectric constant 10.2) feed subsitrate and the
1.57" thick Rogers 5880 (dielectric constant 2.2) patch antenna substrate.
The MESFET amplifier is based around a Mitsubishi MGF1302 with a microstrip matcliing network
to produce approximately lOdB of gain across a bandwidth of lOGHz to 12GHz when operating .with
50 ohm source and load impedances. Bias for each element is established via an active auto-bias
network to set each FET for a drain to source voltage of 3V with 30mA of drain current.
To convert the spherical wavefront from the feed hom to a planar wavefront each element in the array
requires suitable phasing. This is achieved by the addition of sections of microstrip tran:smissionline
between the transistor amplifier and the transmit portion of the aperture coupled paltch antenna.
Standard design equations are applied to obtain the required microstrip line section lengths at the
design frequency of 11.4GHz. The layout for the central 25 elements of the array can be seen in
Figure la.

Figure 1: Photograph of (a) the amplifier side of the central tile, and (b) complete 137 element ac,tive
reflect-array

The active reflect-array has 137 elements separated by 2 4 m , or 0.92 wavelengths at 11.5GHz,
arranged on a rectangular lattice with a circular border. The element spacing is set by the size
required for the active bias network for each amplifier. A spacing of 0.8 wavelengths is the prefened
spacing to avoid grating lobes in the radiation pattem, however simulation of the performance of the
antenna indicated that at the 0.92 wavelength spacing the grating lobes had not risen by an excessive
amount. A small WR90 hom antenna with a 4 4" (E-plane) by 38" aperture, and an axial length
of about 60mm, feeds the array. In order to avoid feed blockage an offset feed design is explored.
The hom is positioned at 180" down from the centre of the array and 360" out from the array. It
is mounted onto an adjustable aluminium arm that is screwed to the bottom of the array-backing sheet.

272
As seen in Figure lb, the complete array is broken up into 9 separate tiles to suit the size of the
available substrate in the etching process and to ease the assembly of the amplifier elements. Note
that this approach may be required to create large size reflect-arrays. Each tile is assembled using M2
nylon screws and nuts with the foam layer sandwiched in between the thick patch antenna substrate
and the circuit substrate. The array is mounted on a sheet of HMW plastic to obtain a rigid
construction with a gap of approximately 10" between the amplifier substrate and the mounting
sheet.
To verify the performance of the array design tests were initially performed on a passive prototype. In
this stage the dual-feeds in each element were connected using suitable lengths of the 50ohm
characteristic impedance microstrip transmission line. Results and discussion on the performance of
this array can be found in [ 5 ] . Having confirmed the array design as sound, the amplifier layer was
fully populated with transistors and bias components to form the active array. The developed active
array underwent similar tests as the passive prototype. In both cases, the measurements were
performed in an anechoic chamber.

ACTIVE REFLECT-ARRAY RESULTS

The gain and radiation pattem for the active reflect-array was measured across a frequency range of
lOGHz to 12GHz. The measured gain for the array is given in Figure 2 where the measurements were
performed relative to a hom antenna of known gain. Also in Figure 2(a) is the measured gain for the
array when the FET drain supply is removed. In this case the amplifier acts as an attenuator with a
loss relatively constant with frequency. The gain response for no drain supply is the same shape as
for the passive reflect-array explored in [ 5 ] , but at a lower level due to the attenuation of the FET. In
contrast the gain of the active array at full bias shows gain over that of the passive array across lOGHz
to 11.3GHz.

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Figure 2: Measured gain for active reflect-array when co-polarised with receive antenna compared
to (a) array with drain supply removed (b) cross-polar response
The cross-polar gain of the array is given in Figure 2(b). This plot shows that the active reflect-array
has high cross polarisation for frequencies in the range of 10.8GHz to 11GHz. It is also useful to note
that a peak in the cross-polarisationoccurs at the same frequency as a trough in the co-polarised gain.
The high levels of cross-polarisation are most likely due to the combination of the return loss of the
active stage, both input and output, leading to low levels of isolation between the two feeds of the
antenna, and therefore radiation of the cross-polarised signal from the input feed. The coupling
between the feeds of the antenna could also be increased over that measured on the antenna alone by
reflections from the array backing plate.

273
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Figure 3: 137-element active reflect-array measured radiation pattem (a) at llGHz in the azimuth
principle planes across full 360 degrees, along with the cross-polarised azimuth radiation pattem,
relative to the co-polarised peak gain; (b) at 11.15GHz for the azimuth and elevation principle planes
and the cross-polarised azimuth radiation pattem.
Figure 3 shows the azimuth, elevation and cross-polar (azimuth) radiation pattems for the active array
as measured at 1lGHz and 11.15GHz. At 1lGHz the gain of the array is in a dip with respect to the
surrounding frequencies. This plot, Figure 3(a), shows that the at this gain dip the array is still
radiating in a broadside direction, and in particular the array does not radiate in an end fi.re mode. At
11.15GHz the active antenna exhibits good gain over the passive array discussed in [5]. Similarly as
its passive partner, this array features a significant side lobe level. The peak of cross-polarisation is
about 12 dB from the peak of main lobe.

CONCLUSIONS
The design, development and testing of an X-band 137 element active reflect-array including
transistor amplifiers has been presented. In this array dual-feed slotlaperture coupled patch antenna
elements are used to minimise the inter-element spacing. The required phasing to obtain broadside
radiation is achieved by using sections of transmission lines coupled between the inputloiitput ports of
the transistor amplifiers and the apertures. The array features broadside radiation although with
increased side lobes and undesired cross-polarisation.The improved performance can be expected in
the next design iterations.
REFERENCES
[l] Song, H.J. and Bialkowski, M.E., “Ku-band 16x16 Array of Aperture Coupled Microstrip
Patches”, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 40, No 5, pp. 25-29, Oct 1998.
[2] J. Huang, “Microstrip Reflectarray and its Applications”, Proceedings of ISAP 96, IChiba, Japan,
pp 1177-1180
[3] S . D. Targonski, D.M. Pozar, “Analysis and Design of a Microstrip Reflectarray Using Patches of
Variable Size”, E E E Antennas and Propagation Conf. Proc. Vol3, pp 1820 - 1823, June 1994.
[4] J. A. Navarro and K. Chang, Integrated Active Antennas and Spatial Power Combining, Wiley
Inter-Science, 1996.
[5] A. W. Robinson, M. E. Bialkowski, H. J. Song, “A Passive Reflect-Array with Dual-Feed
Microstrip Patch Elements”, Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, Vo1.23, No.5, Dec. 5, 1999,
pp.295-299.

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