In order to meet various requirements for the 5th generation mobile communication, a high SHF wideband massive-MIMO system has been widely studied which offers wide system bandwidth and high spectral efficiency. A hybrid beamforming configuration which combines analog beamforming by APAA (Active Phased Array Antenna) and digital MIMO signal processing is one of the promising approaches for reducing the complexity and power consumption of the high SHF wideband massive-MIMO system. In order to realize the hybrid beamforming configuration in high SHF band, small size, low power consumption and precise beam forming over the wide-band frequency range are strongly required for RF frontend which constitutes analog beam former. In this paper, a compact RF frontend module for high SHF wideband 5G small cell base station is proposed. This RF frontend module is prototyped. Various key components of the RF frontend module are fabricated in 15GHz band, and measured results show that high RF performances are able to meet the requirements of RF frontend.

A 15GHz-band 4-channel transmit/receive RF core-chip is presented for high SHF wide-band massive MIMO in 5G. In order to realize small RF frontend for 5G base stations, both 6bit phase shifters (PS) and 0.25 dB resolution variable gain amplifiers (VGA) are integrated in TX and RX paths of 4-channels on the chip. A PS calibration technique is applied to compensate the error of 6bit PS caused by process variations. A common gate current steering topology with tail current control is used for VGA to enhance the gain control accuracy. The 15GHz-band RF core-chip fabricated in 65 nm CMOS process achieved phase control error of 1.9deg. rms., and amplitude control error of 0.23 dB. rms.

In this paper, the design of a mobile satellite Internet access (MSIA) system and a mobile broadband satellite access system, called Mobile Broadband Interactive Satellite Multimedia Access Technology System (MoBISAT) are presented. MSIA system provides Internet service, broadcasting, and digital A/V service in both fixed and mobile environments using Ku-band geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite. A Ku-band two-way active phased array antenna installed on top of the transportation vehicles can enable the transmission of signals to satellite as well as signal tracking and reception. The forward link and return link are a high speed Time Division Multiplex (TDM) and TDMA transmission media, respectively, both of which carry signaling and user traffic. The MoBISAT, which is a next generation mobile broadband satellite access system, provides both Ku-band satellite TV and Ka-band high-speed Internet to the passengers and crews for land, maritime, and air vehicles. This paper addresses the main technological solutions adopted for the implementation and test results for the MSIA system and the main design features of the MoBISAT system.

Miniaturized opto and microwave receiver module using DCCPWs (Double Conductor Coplanar Waveguides) have been developed for active phased array antennas. The module comprised by a microstrip-to-slot transition, two chips of low-noise MMIC amplifiers, and a laser diode module is fabricated on an ultra-thin package with 10301.5 mm3 in size and 2 g in weight to achieve an ultra-thin structure of active phased array antenna panels. The ultra-thin structure is attributed to the design of low-noise MMIC amplifiers using DCCPWs and laser diode modules using silicon V-groove technology and fiber alignment method.

This paper proposes a photonic integrated beam forming and steering network (BFN) that uses switched true-time-delay (TTD) silica-based waveguide circuits for phased array antennas. The TTD-BFN has thermooptic switches and variable time delay lines. This TTD-BFN controls four array elements, and can form and steer a beam. An RF test was carried out in the 2.5 GHz microwave frequency range. The experimental results show a peak-to-peak phase error of 6.0 degrees and peak-to-peak amplitude error of 2.0 dB. Array factors obtained from the measured results agree well with the designed ones. This silica-based beam former will be a key element in phased array antennas.

A cylindrical active phased array antenna was developed. A primary surveillance radar (PSR) antenna and a secondary surveillance radar (SSR) antenna are integrated conformally. The PSR antenna employs two-dimensional electronic beam scanning. The SSR antenna employs electronic beam scanning in azimuth. Advantages of this antenna, design architecture employed and measured characteristics are described.