Builging blocks for sige bicmos multicore chip for ka-band satcom on the move user terminals

Abstract

This project presents building blocks for an innovative configuration of reconfigurable Ka-band Tx/Rx SatCom user terminal antenna operating in the 29.5– 30.8GHz and 19.7–21.0GHz bands. The proposed approach is based on a low-profile active phased-array implemented integrating a multilayer printed circuit with reconfigurable SiGe BiCMOS MMICs. The radiating part of the array is implemented employing dual band elements arranged in an interleaved configuration. Each radiating element is equipped with one complete Tx/Rx unit. Chips developed for this project are referred to as “intelligent pixels” as they integrate all the RF analogue, mixed-signal and digital control circuitry. Each multiple Tx and Rx cores which can independently operate amplitude and phase control, as it is required to implement 2-D beam steering arrays. Furthermore, power amplifiers, Power divider, vector modulator, switching network and low noise amplifiers are embedded into each transmit and receive core respectively to fulfill link budget requirements for Sat-Com applications. In the proposed configuration, each SiGe BiCMOS MMIC chip controls 2 Rx and 4 Tx antenna elements