A 32-Element 28/39 GHz Dual-Band Dual-Beam 5G Phased-Array with 40 dBm EIRP and Simultaneous 64 QAM Operation

This paper presents a 5G 32-element transmit /receive (TRX) phased-array which has independent dual beams with orthogonal linear polarizations at the 28 and 39 GHz bands. The array is based on commercial SiGe 2×2 beamformer chips and printed dual-band stacked patch antennas on a low-cost printed circuit board (PCB) with two separate 1:8 Wilkinson networks. It demonstrates a measured EIRP of 40 dBm at P1dB with 3-dB bandwidths of 26-28.5 GHz and 37–41 GHz. The array is capable of scanning ±55° in azimuth plane and ±40° in elevation plane at both frequencies. In simultaneous dual-beam operation mode, complex modulation measurements with 64-QAM 100 Mbaud waveforms shows an EVM < 3% up to 36 dBm EIRP in both beams without any appreciable interference between the two beams. The application areas are in advanced 5G base-stations capable of multi-frequency operation or carrier aggregation.