Scanned microstrip arrays using simple integrated

ferrite phase shifters

J.C.Batchelor, L.Economou and R.J.Langley

Abstract: A ph;isc-slccrcd microstrip antenna array is presented, suitable for application a s ti mobile
vchiclc satellite terminal. Phase shifters are implcmentecl on ii hybrid dielectric-l'erritc substrate, and
use is madc of tlic phase transilion iicin the cut-ol'l' region of the biased ferrite. Small permanent
nlagiiels and carcfiilly biased l'crriics remove the ncetl l'or large applied clcctromagnctic ficlds. 2-, 3-
and 4-clement dcnionstrator arrays llave been constructed, and np to 30' beam squint has bccn
achieved For applied magnetic biascs of' about 1 0 0 0 ~ .

1 Introduction layouts arc tested. A uscfiil amount of beam steering (30")

Tlie introduction of ii new gencralion ol' connnunication
systcins involving a mohilc tcrniinal-to-satellite link, such 11s
lridium, Globalsliir, Odyssey and KO-Global [I, 21, and
vehicular anti-collision rxiitr syslcms, incans that compact
inexpensive anlcnnas with bean-stccring capability will
become desirable. Ilowever, coiivenlional phase-driven
arrays arc cxpcnsivc, complex and unsuited to integration
in hand-held or vehicle-mounted tcnninals. The aim ol' this
paper is Lo describe tlic dcsign and performance of an
unconiplicatcd beam-steered printcd iii-ray with integrated
ferrite phase shil'tcrs [3].
The pcrincability of ii ferrite wilh an applied static or
low-l'rccliiency inagnclic field changes according 10 Lhc
applicd ficld strength [41, Interesting properties, such a s l'rc-
qitency tuning and reduction in RCS, hiive been rcporled.
llic variable pcimcability lias been used here to change tlic
electrical length oT microstrip lines traversing the l'erritc
substrate. Usually significant changes in bias field strength
are necessary to bring userul phase changes along the line
[5, 61, and large electroniagncl currents are requircd. We
have made use of tlie ferrilc behaviour near the cut-oll'
region whcrc microstrip modes do no1 propagate. With an
incrcasing tipplied magnetic field, there is a rapid phase
chiinge associaled with the ferrite pcnncabilily tis lhe cut-
o f f region is approached. 11 is this region of fast phase
is predicted and measured.
The insertion loss ol' phase-shifting elements is an inipor-
tant pariimclcr, a s il ani ncgatc array gain improvement.
Mcasurenients Iiiivc been taken to ensure that absorption
in thc krrite subslratc docs not significantly reduce the
array gain.
2 Microwave ferrites
When ferritcs arc biased by a sktic inagiletic field, the per-
nieabilily of the rnedium is given by the well known Polder
kmor. For a bias licld directed norinally to tlie surliw: o f a
ferrite slab, the effective pcrincability of the rnediuin can be
derived from the tensor [XI:
Tlie tensor clcmcnts {Lstid K arc given by
The complex magnetic susccptibilitics arc given by Pozar
PI.
.. _ I

change hat produces ii largc phase shift Tor ii sinall 111tcr:i-

tion in the applied field.
The resollatit frequency or radiating elements printed on
region of interest
\
I'
I !
krritc substrates alters with applied bias [7]. This unwanted
c k c t is elimated by utilising ii substrate coniposed 01' both
ferrite and dielectric regions. The radiating palchcs and
phase shifters are printed on the dielectric and l'crritc
substrates, respectively. Rcsulls arc presented for arrays of
two and three clcments, and two tlill'crcnl phase-shifter line
-1ol \I
 Fig. I shows the complex pcrmciibility of a ferritc above
saturation at 7.8GHz. Tlic material parameters of tlic
ferrite are given in Table 1. Two resonances arc visible.
Signal attenuation is associated with the imaginary part or
,ucp and thc resonance peaks correspond to regions of
maximum absorption. Note that thc position of thcsc
peaks is rrcquency-dependent.
Table 1: Parameters of G-350 YIG ferrite
ti &(unbiased) h Saturation field AH
13.69 1 lmm 3500e 300e
Peak A is the absorption resonancc where the tensor
component p = 0. This canscs the effective rerrite pcrmea-
bility to becoinc indeterminate, and propagating waves in
the medium are strongly attenuated. The rcgion or interest
for this appliciitioii occurs just beforc the absorption reso-
nance (peak A). Peak B corresponds to the gyroinagnetic
resonance where R F power couples maximally to the pre-
ccssing magnetons in the crystal lattice. As the inagnetic
bias field is increased l'rom saturation towards absorption
resonance, another region of interest is encountered. This is
the cut-off regioii where p5u < 0, and consequently wave
propagation is preventcd within the rerrite. The value or the
real part of ,ucirdecreases rapidly as the cut-off point is
approached, and this alters the clcctrical Icngth of a micro-
strip line printed on the ferritc.
I ferrite
t t tB2
To
To test this theory, a 5cm long microstrip line phasc
shifter (as shown in Fig. 2) was produced, where 2cm of
the line was affected hy the biasing inagnetic field. Fig. 3
shows the measured SI, parameter of the line. It can be
seen that thcrc is a significant phase shift occurring before
the cut-ofl point is encountered, with a change or over 20"
238
achieved in the rcgion between 2.3 and 2.4KOc. The atten-
uation at iicld strengths above 2.4KOe is &IC to the cut-off
region. This rcgion of rapid phase change, with littlc
incrcasc in iittcnuation at magnetic bias levels just below
cul-off, is used in this work to realise printed ferrite phase
shirtcrs integrated with microstrip antenna arrays.
3 Array design
An array incorporating a travelling wave feed is most snita-
hlc for this application, as it allows a progressive phasc
shift to be included with equal increments betwccn radiat-
ing elemcnts. A corporate feed, althougli sorncwhat Casicr
to design, requires diflcring phasc delays at branched points
to producc a linear phase slope at the array elements. 'I'liis
tr~msliitesto magnetic bias fields of different strengths, VU-
ying in proportion to cach other.
Thc 2- and 3-clcment ray results prcscnted in this piper
arc taken from a linear array or circular pitches cxcited by
a series feed. Fig. 4 shows the geometry of the 3-clcment
array, indicating thc structnrc of the ferrite-dielectric sub-
strate. The substrate diincnsions arc 1 IOmm x 7 0 n m
Mobile-to-satellite systems o h n require circularly polarised
antennas. These can be produced in the discussed arrays by
introducing notch perturbations to the patches, with no
modification required to the I'ccd structure [9]. All the pre-
sented arrays are linearly polal.iscd.
t Z
ferrite 1 tBz dielectric
A 3-elenient array was designed on 5870 R T duroid with
a binomial fccd amplitude distribution. Phasc shifters wcrc
created by routing two sections of line betwccn the antcniia
elements ovcr ti region of ferrite in the substrate plane. Cir-
cular printed patches operating in the T M , , mode were
selected 21s the radiating clcments. This mode has a single
beam dirccted to the zenith and a half-power beam width
of 60". The design paramclcrs are given in Table 2.
Table 2: Parameters of microstrip patch on 5870 RT-duroid
E, Substrate thickness, h Frequency Patch radius
2.33 0.787" 7.8GHz 7.0"
The regions or microstrip traversing the ferrite substrate
were designed to he of similar length and characteristic
impcdance to each other, to ensure that the iipplication of
identical magnetic bias at each point would produce a
uniCorm phiise gradient. The unbiased phase lengths were
chosen to give an initial zero phase difrcrcnce bctwccn adia-
IiX P r i i c . ~ M i c r o wA,ilenaoa I ' r q m ~ . ,Viil. 147, No. 3, .hme 20UU
cent array clcmcnls. Potcntial i~ii~iiiatclic~at the substrate
transition could he inininiised by selecliiig a dielectric with
permittivity similar to that of the ferrite. However, the
cxtreincly thin high impedance lilies that this would
producc makc fccd-matching a serious problem. Low-
permittivity substrates improve printed anlcnna elliciency
and bandwidth. It was determined experimentally that
using a low dielectric substrate below the patches did no1
CAUSC a significant discontinuity at the ferrite transition,
provided that the line width is adjiislcd accordingly to
niinirnise tlie impedance misniatch. 1,itllc radiation loss was
delcctcd. Thc kcd design frequency was made insensitive to
applied bias field, by ensuring that no highly frcqucncy-
dependent components (e.g. impedance t~ansforincrs)wcrc
placed on llic ferrite.
4 Simulation
The array win designed and siinulated using the Hcwlctl
Paackard software pickage Momcnlum, which is based 011
thc inethod of moments techniquc. It was necessary 10
model the two sections of the hybrid substfiatc scparalcly,
due to the plaiiar nature of' the modelling process. The
starting point for the design and sinnilation was zero mag-
netic bias, with tlic paramnctcrs given in Table 1. The phase
shirts under bias were predicted using cqns. I and 2 with
simple array theory for radiation pattern calculation.
I n addition, note that Moincnluni docs not inodel sur-
face waves in the substrate, a coiiinion ~ a u s eof coupling
bctwccn arrayed microstrip patches. However, as the s u b
stratc permittivity was IOW and thc height small, surhce
waves were not expected to contribute to significanl mutual
coupling bctwccn radiating clcmcnls.
5 Results
The per-forinancc or llic phase shilicrs was assessed by S-
parameter measurcnieiit on a Wiltroii 360 network
analyser. The phase shilicrs were jig-mounted so that tlic
I'crrilc-dielectric transition was included in tlic nicasiirc-
inent.
I 1300
1.5 1.7 1.9 2 .I
bios field.KOe
Fig. 5 shows SI2 for two designs or phase shiftcr. Design
1 was a simple 3 length U shape, and design 2 was convo-
luted to increase the line Icngtli affected by the bias lield.
The measured insertion loss or designs I and 2 rcmained
below O S d B and Idl3, respectively. In llic region well
below cut-olr, and assuming thc phase change with applied
IIX P V O . - M1~. 0 <1 ~ ~ n i ~ i i P, R, ~I ~ J X .iw
, 147, NN.i,J W X ZOIIO
field is linear, design I cxhihited a phase gradient of h5"/
KOe and design 2 had a slope of 1 IYiKOe. Dctailed nieas-
iireniei~tof phase change iininediatcly around the cut-off
poinl Tor design 2 yielded a phase shift of 90"/1000e for a
2dB iiicrcilse in transinission loss. This shows an X-fold
increase in tlie phascilield slope compared to the region
well helow cut-off.
The mcasured figures-ofmerit (FOM) for designs 1 and
2 were 3o"/dU and 15o"/dB, respectively, whcrc FOM is
dcfincd a s the phase change over which a IdU loss iiici-e-
mcnt is cxpcl.icnmd.
An inscrtiu~iloss of 2.l9dB was measured for design 2
with zero bias whcrc 110 magiictic absorplion will occur.
The insertion loss iiicrcasctl by only 0.3dB i i i the biased
region just below cut-off. This suggests that [lie ferrite is
not intrinsically causing tlic above poor SI?magnitudes.
Tlie ferrite manufi~ct~~rer's quoted dielectric loss tangent is
5 0.0002, which coinparcs well with good quality micro-
wave dielectric materials. A probable ~ a u s eo f llic poor
transmission loss is the low quality of tlie metallisation on
the ferrite. It was no1 possible lo obtain metal-clad rerrite
samplcs: all phase shillcrs wcrc constructed by affixing cop-
per foil to tlic substrate surfiice with aerosol adhcsivc.
lnscrlion losscs as low as 1.2dB were nieasured for some
trial designs in the bias region close to cut-off. Mcandcrlinc
phase shiTtcrs wilh closely couplcd elements on ferrite liave
been studicd previously [IO]. This work indicates that using
multilayer structures and stepped admittances at tlic edge
sections of the incandcrlinc inay improve the phase shifter
pcrfoiniancc. The input sections arc ncmssary to match the
cvcn and odd mode phase behaviour caused by coupling.
The convolutcd lines presentcd in l h i s work ai-c not as
tightly coupled as those of FIansson cl d.[IO], and multi-
section input matching is thoughl lo be less iinporlant.
Howcvcr, this will bc studicd i n ai alteiiipt to optiinise thc
phase shifter pcrforniancc.
Fig. 6 shows tlic radiation patterns, both expedrnental
and theoretical, of a niagnctically stccrcd 2-clcmcnt array.
Mcasurcmcnts show that a significant change iii beam
direction omurs, u p to 25" Tor a change o f only 1200e i n
the applied DC magnetic field. Ln general, the niorc clc-
ments an array his, tlie l'iirthcr II given phase progression
will slccr tlic bcam. The side-lobes increase a s expected for
ia 2-element unil'onnly cxcitcd array. Thcrc is reasonable
agrcctncnt with theory.
2.3
A 3-clcincnt array was built and tcsted. Tlie array gain
was nieasurcd to bc 4.3dR below that of an identical array
with no [errite present. The causc of this discrepancy is the
insertion loss of the two fcrritc phase sliiftcrs (rcasoiis Cor
this are presented above). This was 2.19dB per phasc
shifter, giving close agreement with the recorded gains. SI I
239
was measured to be -20dR at 7.8GHz. The operating fre-
quency of the array is independent of applied bias. Fig. 7
shows the measured array patterns, together with thosc cal-
culated by array theory. There is an Xo squint at zero bias,
which is due to a small phase length error in the phase
shifters. The diffcrences in clcvation angle bctweeii theory
and measurement arc caused by ground plane ef€ects, and
disturbancc to the binomial amplitude distribution caused
by differences between the two phase shifters that degrade
the array factor and reducc the anticipated steering effect.
The side-lobe levels remain ~-7.5dBbelow the main beam
for the entire steering process. Fig. 7 shows the main beam
elevation angle steers up to 30" with magnetic field before
the ferrite enters the cut-off region.
x--Y O.OKOc: prediction
.. .. .. . 1.42KOc: meisitred
+- + 1.42KOe:iireillction
12or
I
:/
20
.... -
.._...*-
*
c
-./
0
1.u 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.0
bios.KOe
Design expressions for microstrip on ferrite substrates
developed by Puce1 and Masse [ll] wcre used to calculate
the phase changc expected for the phase shifters. The
results were compared with the uniform phase progression
required to steer the array bcani to the mcasured tingles.
Fig. 8 shows that the agreement with measurement is
good. The maximum phase error is 12", which corresponds
to a pointing error o l 2". The input match between thc
biased line and a I-efcrcncc 50 S2 line was calculated, to
assess the phase shifter bandwidth. The bandwidth between
the operating point at 7.8GHz and the -lodB SI, fre-
quency was just over 5%, which exceeds the usual band-
width of the microstrip patches.
A 4-clement array with a corporate fecd w a s also pro-
duced. Although the symmetrical branching feed was
somewhat simpler to design than the series case, biasing
2411
was more complicated as different field strengths were
required at different points. The side-lobe levels wcrc also
high as all four elements wcrc excited uniformly in niagni-
tude. Ueinn stccring of 35" was achieved for bias strengths
comparable with thc 3-clement series feed array, but the
radiation patterns were of a poor quality due to the bias
field interaction bctwccn the different phase shift elenients.
The frequency of operation for the 4-clement array was
9GHz.
As with any phased array, brain steering beyond a cer-
tain angle will cBusc the side-lobe magnitude to become
comparable to that of the main beam. Scan losscs imd
blindness angles will also be encountered. The limiting fac-
tor with these rcrritc shifted arrays is an impodancc mis-
match due to the ferrite cut-off region. lnspection of thc
main beam allcnuation and scan angle with magnetic bias
lor the 2-element army revealed that attenuation remained
low (better than 0.5dR) until cut-off was encountered at
2.3KOe.
Applying the magnetic bias field nomially to the ferrite
produces non-reciprocal phase shirting. The scan ai& is
therefore independent of bias field polarity. Beam steering
either side of the zenith can be iichieveci by dcsigning thc
array to incorporate a compensating unbiased squint.
The rcsulls presented were all obtained by placing per-
mancnl magnets at dilfcrcnt spacings behind thc ferrite
substratc. An electromagnet would be necessary I'or a prac-
tical application. This would present a continuous phase
shift with applied current, offering a resolution adviintage
over discrete phase step systems. The steep plxisc gradient
near cut-olr could be useful in a practical design to give sig-
nificant beam shifting with a realistic electromagnet driving
current. A static bias field of around 2.1KOc could he pro-
vided by permanent magnets or preferably a pre-biased
hexafcrrite substrate. Wc plan to examine hcxaferrites for
this application.
6 Conclusion
We have presented the concept of a simple and cheap
beam-steered array suitable for iiuinerous applications. The
array structure is printed on an integrated dielectric-ferrite
substrate, whcrc 11 normally directed magnctic bias is
applied to alter the electrical length or a microstrip line on
the ferritc. Results have been presented for a 2-element and
2.2 2.5 a binomially fed 3-clement array. Each array comprised cir-
cular radiating patches operating at the T M , , mode. A
study was carried out to improve the total phase shift avail-
able from onc region of microstrip line on the ferrite, and
this has resulted in a total phase changc of 90" for a bias
level change of just 1000e. It can therefore be dclennined
that the sharp change in transmission phasc immediatcly
before a lcrrite enters its cot-off region can succcssfiilly be
cmployed to produce ii useful phasc shift.
The insertion loss o l the unbiased phase shift elements
was derived lroin the nicasurcd S I Iand SI, parameters and
was Ibund to be 2.2dB. This was due to plating problems
on the fcrrites and will be eliminated in future designs. The
insertion loss was observed lo incrcasc by only 0.3dB as
bp'IS , increased up to the cut-olf point.
'
For a 2-element array, the applied magnetic bias pro-
duced a 30" change in beam elevation without a significant
degradation of riidiatioii patterns and the opemting frc-
quency remained constant, a s all radiating and transform-
ing components were printed on conventional dielectric
material. Such an array would be of use where space Ibr
antennas was limited, such tis on a vehiclc. The large bias
fields ncccssary could be provided statically by small per-
I M l~r"<.-lMrc,",,~. A,ilerri"\ Prqmg., I,,,/. 147, ,v<>.3, .hmc 21101J
inanelit magnets or prc-biased liexafcrriles, and a small
low-currcnt electromagnet varying this licld would actuate
lhe beam slccring. This is thc direction of thc ilex1 phase of
our projcct. Large phase S h i h can be achicvcd with small
varialion in bias if the design operates on the very s l a p
phase gradicnl close to cut-ofl' The 3-element array gave
siinllar rcsults, but inorc work is requircd to balance thc
performancc ol' the phase sbiCters. A small dirkrence in
applied bias field brings about a large differential in phasc
between thc phiise shiftcrs, due to the scnsilivily of the
process.
Thc radiation pattcm quality am1 gain could be
ilnprovcd by d e v e b i w a lnodel of the fcrl.ilc-duroid man-
sition to optiniisc the design. Work to reduce thc inscrtion
loss of thc fcrritc substrate scction is continuing.
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n i , , ~ imx., 1997, J,(31, pp. 7-20
~ t ~ < ~ n n~i."p~cx.
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1 BATCHCLOR, J.C., and LANGI.EY, R..I.: 'Dcam scanning using
-"
microstrip line 011 biased fwrile', ~li'crron.Lcll., 1997, 33, (B), p p 645
LA,.
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5
7i.rmr. Mic,irw 7%eo,y 'Gd.. 1996, 44, (7), pp. 13". 1368
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oC single-fecd type cimularly polarised microstrip
L e x , I9R2, 18, pp. 191-193
24 I