Fujikura Ltd.
MW96-11-20-0037(４)
5G mmWave
Phased Array Antenna
Feb 2021 1
Fujikura Ltd. MW96-11-20-0037(４)
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Phased Array Antenna Principles
3. Beamforming
4. Beam Search
5. Fujikura Technology
6. Conclusion
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Fujikura Ltd. MW96-11-20-0037(４)
1. Introduction
The fifth-generation mobile communication system (5G) requires much more sophisticated wireless
communications, and phased array antenna technology plays an important role in transmitting and
receiving radio waves. This type of antenna has a high directivity and transmits radio waves over a
long distance while electronically changing the direction toward moving devices.
Generally, 5G communication uses sub 6 GHz (lower than 6 GHz) and millimeter-wave (approx.
30GHz and higher) frequency bands. Use of millimeter-wave frequencies is essential to realize high
communication capacity between base stations and user terminals such as customer premises
equipment (CPE) for fixed wireless access (FWA) and between the base stations and mobile devices.
This is because the higher the frequency, the more bandwidth available and the higher the
communication data rate (communication capacity). (See Link Design for Millimeter-wave
Communication [1])
On the other hand, since millimeter waves suffer high free-space losses, it is difficult to transmit
radio waves over a long distance. To extend the transmission distance, a narrow-beamed high-gain
antenna that equivalently increases the transmission power and reception sensitivity is
indispensable. As a result, however, the communication angular range gets much narrower than
that of the low-gain, omni-directional antennas. To expand the communication range by overcoming
the disadvantages of millimeter waves while taking advantage of their features, the most important
technology is the phased array antenna that creates highly directional beams and steers them to
desired directions. This technology will also enable spatial multiplexing of radio waves and thus, is
a key to 5G communication from the viewpoint of efficient use of frequencies in small cells. Many
providers in the world have already started to install millimeter-wave base stations. They plan to
operate a huge number of base stations within several years. As of March 2020, Japanese provider
NTT has deployed 500 base stations and plans to have 20,000 in service by March 2022.
In most of these mmWave base stations, the providers will install phased array antennas due to
the following advantages:
・Longer communication range with low power consumption.
・Quick beam steering to enable high-speed switching among users.
・Gb/s-order high-speed communication.
Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the RF module with a phased array antenna. It converts the
IF signals to millimeter-wave signals then divides the signals among several phase shifters which
are connected to antenna elements.
Fig. 1 Block diagram of RF module with phased array antenna
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Fujikura Ltd. MW96-11-20-0037(４)
2. Phased Array Antenna Principles
Figure 2 shows a configuration of a phased array antenna. Although there are many types of phased
array antennas for different purposes and frequencies, this paper discusses one used mainly for
millimeter-wave communication. As shown in Fig. 2, there are several square patterns (16 pieces for
this example) in an orderly manner on the substrate. Each of the square patterns represents an
antenna element. They collectively form a phased array antenna, which radiates phase-controlled
signals simultaneously from each antenna element and operates as a larger antenna that has higher
gain and directivity. For example, when all the elements are excited by in-phase signals, the phased
antenna operates as an antenna with strong directivity toward the front. Three-dimensional
structure of each patch element and their alignment generally define the total phased array antenna
performance and thus the actual antenna has a far more complicated structure.
Fig. 2 Configuration of phased array antenna
Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of the drive circuit configured inside or on the opposite side of
the phased array antenna substrate. There is a transmitter near the center, from which signals
branch into 16 antenna elements. The devices placed between the last branches and antenna
elements are phase shifters. These phase shifters have important functions for the operation of the
phased array antenna, namely, to control the direction of a beam freely.
Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of driving circuit of phased array antenna
This section presents the transmitter as an example, but the receiver has almost the same structure.
In addition, sometimes, both transmitting and receiving are carried out using the similar structure.
As shown in Fig. 3, two-dimensional array of antenna elements allows a phased array antenna to
steer beams both vertically and horizontally. To make the explanation more easily understandable,
only one row of the elements serves as a one-dimensional array antenna here and describes details
of operation.
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Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of the one-dimensional phased array antenna with four
elements. The feeder branches off from the oscillator into four, each of which is connected to the
antenna element through the phase shifter. If all the feeders are of the same length, that is, the
lengths from the oscillator to each antenna element are the same, the radio waves radiated from
each element are in phase.
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of phased array antenna consisting of four elements
A phased array antenna is an antenna that controls the direction of emission of radio waves by
superimposing the signals of different phases. The characteristic of radio waves as wave helps better
understanding of operation of phased array antennas. Figure 5 shows the image of waves. When two
waves coming from the left are superimposed at the center of the diagram and keep going to the
right. When the positions of their peaks are the same, meaning waves in phase add together, they
have a bigger amplitude and move to the right. In contrast, if two waves in antiphase are
superimposed, they cancel each other to leave little power of waves as shown in Fig. 5b.
a. In phase
b. In antiphase
Fig. 5 Image of superimposing waves
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Fujikura Ltd. MW96-11-20-0037(４)
The radio waves radiated from each antenna element spread in a concentric configuration, as
illustrated in Fig. 6a. Figure 6 describes how the peaks of waves in phase ted from each antenna
element move in order of time using concentric circles of purple, orange, green and blue. Under the
conditions, at the points where the circles of the same color (peaks of the waves) are superimposed,
or where the waves are in phase, the waves add together to increase radiation. (See circles in Fig.
6a). Since the superimposed points start from purple and shifts to orange, green and blue, as shown
in Fig. 6, the waves heading forward interfere constructively and thus have stronger directivity.
a: Superimposing of waves near antenna b: Superimposing of waves far from antenna
Fig. 6 Spread of waves from antenna element and their superimposing
Figure 6a shows that the waves coming from the four elements do not sufficiently overlap since the
travel distances (radius of concentric circle) of waves are short. However, when these waves travel a
certain distance from the antenna, each radius of the circles increases, and overlaps as one wave, as
illustrated in Fig. 6b.
As mentioned above, a larger number of antenna elements produces higher antenna gain on the
front side, which helps the antenna obtain high directivity. Arranging the elements in two
dimensions allows the antenna to become highly directional both vertically and horizontally.
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Fujikura Ltd. MW96-11-20-0037(４)
3. Beamforming
The preceding sections have discussed the case where multiple antenna elements radiate
electromagnetic waves in phase. Shifting the phase of radio waves appropriately enables the
antenna to direct a narrowly focused beam in directions other than the front. This technology is
called beamforming or beam steering.
Figure 7 illustrates the radio waves output from the transmitter as parallel waves. In Fig. 6 in the
previous section, the radio waves from each antenna element are expressed with concentric circles.
In contrast, Fig. 7 explains how the signals, which are sent out from the transmitter and divided
into four, reach the antenna elements through the phase shifter and are radiated. The length from
the purple circle to the next purple circle is one wavelength with a phase shift of 360˚. This means
that each successive change of the circle color represents a phase shift of a quarter wavelength, or
90˚. The line connected between the same color circles is the wave front moving forward.
Fig. 7 Propagation of radiated radio waves in phase
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In Fig. 8, each phase shifter changes the phase by 0˚ (as is), 30 ˚, 60 ˚, and 90 ˚ from the right to
the left, respectively, where the phase is shifted the most in the left end. By delaying waves that
were in phase when entering the phase shifter, the peaks of the waves output from the antenna
element are also delayed. The wave front, where multiple waves come together to be intensified, tilts
when the four elements output radio waves at short regular intervals. This indicates that the angle
of the beam can vary. Figure 8a illustrates sinusoidal waves. In addition, Fig. 8b describes the
superimposing of radio waves radiated from the antenna elements and spread in a concentric
manner.
a: Radio waves with controlled phase shift b: Spread of radio waves
Fig. 8 Propagation of radiated radio waves with controlled phase shift
In Fig. 8, the antenna elements are spaced one-half wavelength apart. In this case, as the diagram
shows, when the phase between each antenna element is set to 30˚, the beam tilts about 9˚.
In practice, as Fig. 2 shows, the phased array antenna with several tens of antenna elements
arranged two-dimensionally on a plane will be put to use, which can freely direct a beam up, down,
left and right. The antenna steers a high gain, directional beam toward the receiver within a
coverage. This brings higher electric power to a receiver compared to a single antenna and thus,
provides higher communication speed and spatially efficient communication.
Figure 9 shows an example of beam patterns of a phased array antenna designed and fabricated by
Fujikura. Beamforming has been satisfactorily accomplished, which steers a highly directional beam
to an angle within ±45˚ along axis.
Fig. 9 Example of beamforming (graph of beam profile)
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Fujikura Ltd. MW96-11-20-0037(４)
4. Beam Search
As mentioned in the previous section, the phased array antenna can steer the beam of radio
waves in a certain direction for efficient communication. However, a communication device with
this type of antenna cannot establish a connection with another communication device at all if
their beams are not facing each other.
A communication system using a phased array antenna requires functions to find a right
direction to steer a beam and automatically adjust it for stable communication, especially, when
either of the communication devices is moving. Such a function has been already implemented into
the existing systems.
When the communication device tries to establish a connection initially or loses a signal from a
counterpart, it cannot detect the location of another communication device or even the existence of
another device. In such a case, it is difficult to find a counterpart when each device is using a highly
directional beam. If a communicable angle range of the beam is 5% of the total and the direction of
each beam is random, the possibility where both of them can find their counterpart is 0.25%. The
possibility to find the counterpart is further decreased when the beam is more narrowly focused.
Consequently, the communication devices are required to steer the beam in so many different
directions.
To deal with the issue, a typical solution is decreasing the directivity to capture the counterpart.
This method generally uses only one or a few antenna elements in the entire phased array antenna
to create a wide spreading beam pattern. This beam pattern is called quasi-omni. In this state,
although the communication devices cannot perform high-speed communication particular to
millimeter-wave, it is sufficiently possible to identify the directions of both devices by using an
appropriate control procedure such as “Sector Level Search (SLS).” Since the phased array antenna
is electrically controlled, it can readily establish a connection by decreasing its directivity while being
highly directional. The detailed procedures are specified in common standards such as IEEE
802.11ad/WiGig and other standards.
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Fujikura Ltd. MW96-11-20-0037(４)
5. Fujikura Technology for Phased Array Antenna
Fujikura has a long history of providing communication infrastructure. Our product line includes
high-speed communication equipment as well as electrical and optical cables. Based on our
electromagnetic field analysis technology and flexible printed circuit (FPC) production technology,
we have developed our phased array antenna design technology. With our in-depth knowledge on
materials, processes, measurement, simulation and RF-IC technology, we can develop leading-edge
millimeter-wave phased array antennas and modules.
6. Conclusion
This paper has introduced the characteristics and principle of the phased array antenna design,
which is an important technology to achieve high-speed communication using millimeter waves. The
principle of a phased array antenna is quite simple. However, designing and manufacturing
cutting-edge phased array antennas require unique skills that only Fujikura has, especially, in the
millimeter-wave area. Careful attention must be applied to building the system architecture and
implementation of the technology to reap the rewards from this design technology. Fujikura
millimeter-wave products will include innovative phased array antenna design to provide significant
performance advantages.
Please contact Fujikura ”[email protected]” to discuss further.
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Fujikura Ltd. MW96-11-20-0037(４)
Reference
[1] https://mmwavetech.fujikura.jp/
Fujikura Ltd.
Electronic Technologies R&D Center
Millimeter-wave Business Development Department
1440, Mutsuzaki, Sakura-shi, Chiba 285-8550, Japan
E-mail : [email protected]
Web site : https://mmwavetech.fujikura.jp/
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