This is a repository copy of Compact Broadband Electronically Controllable SIW Phase Shifter for 5G Phased Array Antennas. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/126379/ Version: Accepted Version Proceedings Paper: Malik, B, Doychinov, VO orcid.org/-1-673-57 and Robertson, I (Accepted: 217) Compact Broadband Electronically Controllable SIW Phase Shifter for 5G Phased Array Antennas. In: 218 Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 218). 12th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 218), 9-13 Apr 218, London, UK. IEEE. (In Press) IEEE 218. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. eprints@whiterose.ac.uk https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/
Compact Broadband Electronically Controllable SIW Phase Shifter for 5G Phased Array Antennas Bilal T Malik, Viktor Doychinov, Ian D Robertson School of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, elbtm@leeds.ac.uk Abstract This work presents a novel compact and broadband electronically controllable substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) phase shifter intended for beamsteering applications in antenna arrays for 5G wireless communication. The proposed phase shifter is designed to operate over a large bandwidth (26 GHz 32 GHz) with a simulated maximum insertion loss of less than 3 db and a maximum phase difference of more than 1 +5 over the entire band. The phase shift is provided via metal posts which are switched between capacitive and inductive loading through beam-lead PIN diodes. Index Terms Phase shifter, SIW, millimeter wave, antenna arrays, antennas, 5G. I. INTRODUCTION Phase shifters, which are circuits that change the phase of a signal with minimum insertion loss, are fundamental to the operation of electronically steerable phased array antennas at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies [1]. At the same time, components and devices implemented in Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) technology are emerging as a promising candidate for high Q-factor circuits and low loss antenna feeding networks, due to the reduced amount of conduction loss [2]. SIW phase shifters are widely used because of their low profile, high Q-factor, low-cost fabrication and straightforward integration with other circuits [3]. Conventionally, these circuits use fixed metal posts to perturb the propagating electromagnetic field in order to provide a fixed value of phase shift between their input and output [4-7]. However, there are only a handful of reports on electronically controllable SIW phase shifters. A circuit using a design approach similar to the one reported in this work has previously been demonstrated over the X-band frequency range [8], achieving a maximum phase difference of 45 using 4 PIN diodes; however the diodes used were housed in large ceramic packages, which in turn imposed a limit on the minimum size, and hence maximum frequency, of the SIW circuit. In another research work, a phase shifter implemented in a multilayer SIW technology was presented, which utilised aperture coupling slots alongside PIN diodes for electronic control [9]. The circuit provided a 9 phase shift with an operational bandwidth of 4 GHz by using 1 PIN diodes. Nevertheless, the complicated multilayer SIW structure resulted in complex fabrication requirements. Realising an electronically controlled SIW phase shifter with a wide operating bandwidth and low insertion loss has remained a challenging task for the research community [1]. In this work a concept for a novel compact and broadband electronically tunable SIW phase shifter is developed, designed and presented. The phase shifter consists of a simple single layer SIW structure, with different values of phase shift obtained through the use of a combination of PIN diodes and reconfigurable conductive posts. The proposed phase shifter has an operational bandwidth of 6 GHz (26 GHz 32 GHz), covering the main 5G candidate frequency bands, and has an excellent insertion loss performance of less than 3 db at the centre frequency. The rest of the paper is organised as follows: Section II includes the design and modeling of the SIW phase shifter, while simulated results and analysis are presented in Section III. Measurement results of prototype circuits are discussed in Section IV. Finally, Section V summarises the findings and presents directions for future work. II. DESIGN OF THE SIW PHASE SHIFTER A. Initial Design and Operating Principle There are several different ways to implement a phase shifter circuit using SIW technology. The simplest way is by adjusting the length of the SIW to provide a phase shift relative to another transmission line. Another approach to introduce a fixed amount of phase shift in an SIW circuit is to insert vertical metal posts at carefully selected positions inside the waveguide channel [11]. This work proposes a novel electronically controllable SIW phase shifter, using either 2 or 4 metal posts that can be switched between providing an inductive or capacitive loading of the SIW transmission line. The switching is provided by PIN diodes, and illustrations of the proposed circuits are shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, respectively. The relevant dimensions of the phase shifter circuits are Lf, length of the microstrip feed line, L1 and L2, length of SIW line for a phase shifter with 2 and 4 PIN diodes respectively, and W, width of the SIW transmission line. Furthermore, x and y denote the offset of the centre of the switched metal posts from the geometric centre of the SIW transmission line. The first step of the phase shifter design is to ensure single mode propagation over the frequency band of interest, i.e. 26 GHz 32 GHz. The initial dimensions of the SIW line were calculated using the relations provided in [12] for an RT/Duroid 588 substrate with ε r = 2.2 and thickness H =.787 mm. These were subsequently optimized in the commercial 3D FEM software HFSS, and the final SIW dimensions are listed in Table I.
For the final structure, the TE 1 cutoff frequency is calculated using Equation (1) to be 22.5 GHz, while the TE 2 cutoff frequency is 45 GHz, fulfilling the criteria for single mode propagation. TABLE I: PARAMETER VALUES OF THE SIW PHASE SHIFTERS Parameter Value Parameter Value L1 6. mm x 1.5 mm L2 8. mm y 1.5 mm W 5.5 mm d.5 mm Lf 4.55 mm p.8 mm It should be noted that the diameter of the metallised via holes and the distance between them should satisfy the following conditions, which may pose fabrication challenges at millimeter-wave frequencies: (1) Figure 2 SIW phase shifter with 4 reconfigurable metal posts. B. PIN Diodes A DSG95- planar beam-lead PIN diode was used to provide switching capability. The equivalent circuit of the diode and its physical dimensions are shown in Fig. 3, while the parameters used in the simulation model are summarised in Table II. (2) where is the diameter of the via holes, is the distance between two adjacent ones, and λ g is the wavelength inside the dielectric medium. The next step is to introduce the metal posts, each offset at a distance y from the center of the SIW width and a distance x from the center of the SIW length, which are used to achieve the required phase shift. There is an annular ring gap between the metal posts and the top metal wall of the SIW line, where the switching PIN diodes are mounted. The metal posts are then switched between providing capacitive loading (PIN diode off, or state ) and inductive loading (PIN diode on, or state 1 ) of the SIW transmission line, thereby resulting in a phase difference between the different states of the diodes. Simulations have been carried out for different values of the x and y offsets to explore the range of obtainable phase difference as well as their effect on the insertion loss. It was found that moving the posts closer to the center line of the SIW increases the phase difference, as does moving them closer to the edges of the SIW line. Figure 3 Physical dimensions (a) and equivalent circuit of the DSG95 PIN diode in forward (ON) (b) and reverse (OFF) (c) bias condition. TABLE II: PARAMETER VALUES OF THE PIN DIODE Parameter Value Parameter Value L.5 nh C T.25 pf R S 4 Ω R P 1 kω Figure 1 SIW phase shifter with 2 reconfigurable metal posts. III. SIMULATION RESULTS & ANALYSIS The first step of the analysis of this new SIW phase shifter was to conduct a parameter study in HFSS on the effect and sensitivity of the provided phase difference and insertion loss versus the position and diameter of the metal posts. Practical fabrication considerations, such as available drill sizes and
minimum gap width were used when choosing the range of values for the different parameters. The simulated phase difference over the frequency range of interest, 26 GHz 32 GHz, provided by an SIW phase shifter with 2 metal posts is presented in Fig. 4 for the 4 different states of the circuit. The phase shift obtained is 32 +5, 52 +8 and 85 +1 for the 1, 1 and 11 states, relative to the state. These values can be increased or decreased by adjusting the positions of the metal posts. It was found that moving the two posts closer to the center of the SIW increases the phase shift due to the increased perturbation of the E-field. The results from a parametric analysis of the effect of the y and x position of the metal posts on the provided phase difference is presented in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, respectively. It should be noted that the proposed circuit is capable of providing more than 9 phase shift while only requiring 2 PIN diodes. However, this increase in phase shift provided is at the expense of increased insertion loss. The overall phase shift can also be increased by connecting two or more of these circuits in a cascade fashion. The simulated S-parameters of the SIW phase shifter with 2 metal posts are shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. The circuits exhibit a return loss of more than 7 db and an insertion loss of less than 3.5 db from 26 GHz to 32 GHz. Both of these are for a circuit with y = 1.5 mm and x = 1.5 mm, and metal post diameter d =.5 mm. Figure 6 Phase response of SIW phase shifter with 2 metal posts for different values of x. Difference shown between the and 11 states. Phase Difference (Deg.) 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 11-1 26 27 28 29 3 31 32 Figure 7 Simulated return loss for SIW phase shifter with 2 metal posts. Figure 4 Phase difference obtained with 2 metal posts. Figure 8 Simulated insertion loss of SIW phase shifter with 2 metal posts. Figure 5 Phase response of SIW phase shifter with 2 metal posts for different values of y. Difference shown between the and 11 states. The simulated phase difference provided by an SIW phase shifter with 4 metal posts is given in Fig. 9. The largest phase shift obtained is approximately 1 +5 in the 26 GHz 32 GHz range, when all 4 PIN Diodes are switched to their ON state. As can be seen in Fig. 9, for certain bit combinations the values of phase difference are similar, which is due to the symmetric structure of the circuit. Simulated S-parameters for this SIW phase shifter with 4
metal posts, for different states of the PIN diodes, are shown in Fig. 1. It is evident that the insertion loss is less than 3.5 db from 26 GHz to 32 GHz. The presented results for a 4 post phase shifter are for a variant with the same values for y and x as the 2 post one. Increasing the number of metal posts, while keeping the other parameters the same, has the effect of increasing the maximum phase difference obtainable, while having a negligible impact on the insertion and return loss performance. Phase Difference (Degree) 12 1 8 6 4 2 1 1 11 11 11 11 1111 The circuits were measured using a Keysight PNA-X N5247A with a full 2-port SOLT calibration, over the frequency range of interest, i.e. 26 GHz 32 GHz, with 61 frequency points. A comparison between the measured and simulated phase difference are presented in Fig. 12 and Fig 13 for the 2-bit and 4-bit SIW phase shifter respectively. Overall, there is good agreement between simulated and measured results. The differences are considered due to the effect of the 2.4 mm connectors, which were not de-embedded as rapid validation was deemed a priority; as well as errors from fabrication tolerances. A similar comparison for the insertion loss of the proposed circuits are given in Fig. 14 and Fig. 15, where similar observations can be made. There is a qualitative agreement between measurements and simulations, with the difference attributed to the coaxial to microstrip transition. 26 27 28 29 3 31 32 Figure 9 Phase difference obtained with a phase shifter with 4 metal posts. -.5-1. S-Parameters (db) -1.5-2. -2.5-3. -3.5 1 1 11 11 11 11 1111 26 27 28 29 3 31 32 Figure 1 Simulated insertion loss of SIW phase shifter with 4 metal posts. Figure 11 Fabricated prototypes (a) 2-bit SIW phase shifters (b) 4-bit SIW phase shifters and (c) Measurement setup. IV. MEASURED RESULTS & FABRICATION To quickly validate the proposed approach, circuits in which the PIN diodes are selectively replaced with copper strips were fabricated on a.787 mm thick RT/Duroid 588, using the in-house circuit fabrication facility at the University of Leeds. The circuits fabricated correspond to the 4 different configurations (, 1, 1, 11) of a 2-bit SIW phase shifter as well as selected configurations (, 1, 11, 1, 11, 11, 11, 1111) of a 4-bit SIW phase shifter. Photographs of these circuits, together with the measurement setup, are shown in Fig. 11 a), b) and c), respectively. Precision field-replaceable 2.4 mm Southwest Microwave connectors were used to connect the circuits to the coaxialbased measurement equipment. Phase Difference (Degree) 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 Reference 3 Measured 1 2 Measured 1 Measured 11 1 Simulated 1 Simulated 1-1 Simulated 11 26 28 3 32 Figure 12 Simulated and measured phase difference of a 2-bit SIW phase shifter.
S-Parameters (db) Phase Difference (Degree) Figure 13 Simulated and measured phase difference of a 4-bit SIW phase shifter. -2-4 1 8 6 4 2 26 27 28 29 3 31 32 Reference Simulated 1 Simulated 1 Simulated 11 Simulated 11 Simulated 11 Simulated 11 Simulated 1111 Measured 1 Measured 11 Measured 11 Measured 11 Measured 11 Measured 1111 Measured Measured 1-6 Measured 1 Measured 11 Simulated Simulated 1 Simulated 1 Simulated 11-8 26 27 28 29 3 31 32 Figure 14 Simulated and measured insertion loss of 2-bit SIW phase shifter S-Parameters (db) -1-2 -3-4 -5-6 26 27 28 29 3 31 32 Measured Measured 1 Measured 11 Measured 11 Measured 11 Measured 11 Measured 1111 Simulated Simulated 1 Simulated 1 Simulated 11 Simulated 11 Simulated 11 Simulated 11 Simulated 1111 Figure 15 Simulated and measured insertion loss of 4-bit SIW phase shifter broadband, and easy to fabricate and integrate with other planar circuits. Measurement results from fabricated prototypes show good agreement with simulation results, confirming that the proposed phase shifter is an attractive candidate for use in beamforming and beam steering modules in phased array antennas for 5G communication. REFERENCES [1] A. Ali, N. J. G. Fonseca, F. Coccetti and H. Aubert, "Analysis and design of a compact SIW-based multi-layer wideband phase shifter for Ku-band applications," 21 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, Toronto, ON, 21, pp. 1-4. [2] A. B. Guntupalli, T. Djerafi and K. Wu, "Two-Dimensional Scanning Antenna Array Driven by Integrated Waveguide Phase Shifter," in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 1117-1124, March 214. [3] T. Urbanec and J. Lácík, "Compact size substrate integrated waveguide phase shifter," 216 26th International Conference Radioelektronika (RADIOELEKTRONIKA), Kosice, 216, pp. 495-497. [4] K. Sellal, L. Talbi, T. Denidni and J. Lebel, "A New Substrate Integrated Waveguide Phase Shifter," 26 European Microwave Conference, Manchester, 26, pp. 72-75. [5] P. Yadav, S. Mukherjee and A. Biswas, "Design of planar substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) phase shifter using air holes," 215 IEEE Applied Electromagnetics Conference (AEMC), Guwahati, 215, pp. 1-2. [6] L. P. Goswami, A. Sarkar and A. Biswas, "Design and implementation of SIW based multiple output X-band phase shifters," 216 Asia- Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC), New Delhi, 216, pp. 1-4. [7] P. Yadav, S. Mukherjee and A. Biswas, "Design of SIW variable phase shifter for beam steering antenna application," 216 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (APSURSI), Fajardo, 216, pp. 1223-1224. [8] K. Sellal, L. Talbi and M. Nedil, "Design and implementation of a controllable phase shifter using substrate integrated waveguide," in IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation, vol. 6, no. 9, pp. 19-194, June 19 212. [9] B. Muneer, Z. Qi and X. Shanjia, "A Broadband Tunable Multilayer Substrate Integrated Waveguide Phase Shifter," in IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 22-222, April 215. [1] O. Kramer, T. Djerafi and K. Wu, "Dual-layered substrate-integrated waveguide six-port with wideband double-stub phase shifter," in IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation, vol. 6, no. 15, pp. 174-179, December 11 212. [11] Y. J. Cheng, K. Wu and W. Hong, "Substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) broadband compensating phase shifter," 29 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, Boston, MA, 29, pp. 845-848. [12] Hemendra Kumar, Ruchira Jadhav, Sulabha Ranade "A Review on Substrate Integrated Waveguide and its Microstrip Interconnect" Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering (IOSR-JECE), Volume 3, Issue 5 (Sep. Oct.. 212), PP 36-4. V. CONCLUSION In this paper a novel approach to the design and implementation of a broadband SIW phase shifter using reconfigurable metal posts has been presented. To demonstrate the proposed concept, a phase shifter operating over the main 5G candidate frequency bands (26 GHz 32 GHz) has been designed and optimized using ANSYS HFSS. The proposed SIW phase shifter is compact,