Executive Summary : | The millimeterwave communication system has been a subject of interest in recent years because of its inherent advantages e.g. availability of underutilized spectrum, higher bandwidth, smaller footprint etc. However, the mmwave communication inherits limitation in terms of higher free space path loss and higher sensitivity to obstacles in the communication environment. The modern mmwave antenna systems should be capable of adaptive beamforming to enhance spatial multiplexing by tracking users with individual high gain beams as well as to cope up with time variation in the channel. Therefore, a significant role to successful mmwave communication lies in tracking and sensing along with communication link. The antennas at these frequencies are required to be high gain to support long range communication. On the other hand, to establish satisfactory link between all the user with the access point, wider beam coverage is required. Therefore, a high gain antenna solution with multibeam or beam steering capability is on high demand to implement mmwave communication links. The conventional methods for realizing RF circuits using microstrip, coplanar waveguide technologies have limitations for their use in mmwave frequency bands e.g. high radiation loss, surface wave loss etc. Recently, new techniques e.g. ‘Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW)’ and Substrate Integrated Coaxial Line (SICL) have emerged as an attractive alternative for using in mmwave spectrum. In the proposed work, several novel technologies e.g. SICL or SIW based low profile advanced antenna system will be explored. The proposed system will consist of low profile, compact antenna array along with planar beamforming network and RF switch to generate multiple beams based on switch output. The complete system will be implemented in a single substrate maintaining low manufacturing cost. Several aspects of the proposed antenna e.g. wide field of view, multiband/broadband operations to support several mmwave applications, dual polarized operation will be explored for possible application in basic use cases. |