A Single-Board Integrated Millimeter-Wave Asymmetric Full-Digital Beamforming Array for B5G/6G Applications
Qingqing Lin,
Jun Xu,
Kai Chen,
Long Wang,
Wei Li,
Zhiqiang Yu,
Guangqi Yang,
Jianyi Zhou,
Zhe Chen,
Jixin Chen,
Xiaowei Zhu,
Wei Hong
Affiliations
Qingqing Lin
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Jun Xu
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Frontiers Science Center for Mobile Information Communication and Security, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Corresponding authors.
Kai Chen
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Long Wang
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Wei Li
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Zhiqiang Yu
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Guangqi Yang
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Jianyi Zhou
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing 211111, China
Zhe Chen
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Jixin Chen
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing 211111, China
Xiaowei Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing 211111, China
Wei Hong
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, School of Information Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing 211111, China; Frontiers Science Center for Mobile Information Communication and Security, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Corresponding authors.
In this article, a single-board integrated millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) asymmetric full-digital beamforming (AFDBF) array is developed for beyond-fifth-generation (B5G) and sixth-generation (6G) communications. The proposed integrated array effectively addresses the challenge of arranging a large number of ports in a full-digital array by designing vertical connections in a three-dimensional space and successfully integrating full-digital transmitting (Tx) and receiving (Rx) arrays independently in a single board. Unlike the traditional symmetric array, the proposed asymmetric array is composed of an 8 × 8 Tx array arranged in a square shape and an 8 + 8 Rx array arranged in an L shape. The center-to-center distance between two adjacent elements is 0.54λ0 for both the Tx and Rx arrays, where λ0 is the free-space wavelength at 27 GHz. The proposed AFDBF array possesses a more compact structure and lower system hardware cost and power consumption compared with conventional brick-type full-digital arrays. In addition, the energy efficiency of the proposed AFDBF array outperforms that of a hybrid beamforming array. The measurement results indicate that the operating frequency band of the proposed array is 24.25–29.50 GHz. An eight-element linear array within the Tx array can achieve a scanning angle ranging from −47° to +47° in both the azimuth and the elevation planes, and the measured scanning range of each eight-element Rx array is –45° to +45°. The measured maximum effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of the eight-element Tx array is 43.2 dBm at 28.0 GHz (considering the saturation point). Furthermore, the measured error vector magnitude (EVM) is less than 3% when 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) waveforms are used.
