Printed Circuit Switched-Beam Smart Antenna System Using 4x4 Butler Matrix Beamforming Network At The Band (11.25-12.85) GHz

The aim of this paper is to investigate and implement the use of special type of beamformer (the Butler matrix) with an antenna array in a switched beam smart antenna system. This system is designed and analyzed to be used for satellite communication in the band (11.25-12.85) GHz. The system, including a (4x4) Butler matrix and a 4-element microstrip patch antenna array, is completely built using microstrip printed circuit technique for the sake of compactness. The results obtained by simulation and measurement show that this system can produce narrow multibeams in different directions with a wide coverage angle of about 146 and a relatively high crossover level of -3 dB. The resulted beams have directivities range from 9 dB to 11 dB, and half-power beamwidths range from 30 to 42 with relatively low side lobe level of less than -10 dB.

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