Near-Field Calibration Methods for Integrated Analog Beamforming Arrays and Focal Plane Array Feeds

Abstract

Active millimeter-wave beamforming arrays and focal plane array antennas require extensive calibration to compensate for impairments, such as phase and gain variations between elements, as well as unintended coupling between changes in gain and phase. When far-field calibration methods are used for calibrating focal plane array antennas, the required size of the anechoic chamber is exceedingly large. For this reason, a near-field calibration method for millimeter-wave analog beamforming array antennas and focal plane array antennas is proposed. Nonidealities of the beamformer integrated circuits with vector modulators are taken into consideration, and a way to reduce the measurement set for vector modulators with high resolution is proposed. This method is both practical and achieves a good calibration as evidenced by measurements of the radiation patterns, and it is suitable for use in an automated factory calibration setup. The important trade-off between the radiated power and side-lobe level is highlighted.

Keywords

• Array
• beamforming
• calibration
• factory calibration
• focal plane array
• near-field