SR-Crossbar topology for large-scale RF MEMS switch matrices

With the development of multifunctional satellites, the integration and multiplexing of satellite resources become increasingly important. Large-scale radio-frequency microelectromechanical system (RF MEMS) switch matrix technology is one of the key technologies to design a multifunctional satellite. This study proposed a novel sequential rotation crossbar (SRCrossbar) topology for large-scale RF MEMS switch matrices. A specifically designed novel configuration scheme or arraying method for SR-Crossbar topology is also proposed. The number of switch elements in the SR-Crossbar RF MEMS switch matrix is significantly reduced; hence, the reliability and performance of the matrix can be improved simultaneously. For an N × N RF MEMS switch matrix, in a fully configured scenario, the maximum number of switch elements in all the paths are N(N + 1)/2. When N ≥ 4, the proposed SR-Crossbar RF MEMS switch matrix topology is better than the planar Benes topology, which is already an optimised planar switch matrix topology with the minimum number of nodes.