volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

This article presents an equivalent electrical circuit for designing Radio-Frequency MEMS-controlled planar phase shifter. This kind of phase shifters has recently been incorporated in reconfigurable reflectarrays. The proposed equivalent circuit depends on the number, the ON/OFF state and the locations of the switches inside the unit cell. Such equivalent circuit is used for determining, with a little computational effort, the two important design parameters i.e., the number and the locations of RF-MEMS switches in the phase shifter cell. These two design parameters then allow a designer to design a phase shifter cell having a linear distribution of a given number of phases over 360° phase range at a single desired frequency.

1. Legay, H., et al. "A steerable re°ectarray antenna with MEMS controls," EEE Int. Phased Array Syst. Technol. Symp., 494-499, Oct. 14 2003.
doi:10.1109/PAST.2003.1257031

2. Hum, S. V., M. Okoniewski, and R. J. Davies, "Realizing an electronically tunable reflectarray using varactor diode-tuned elements," IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, Vol. 15, No. 6, 422-424, Jun. 2005.
doi:10.1109/LMWC.2005.850561

3. Mossinger, A., R. Marin, S. Mueller, J. Freese, and R. Jakoby, "Electronically reconfigurable reflectarray with nematic liquid crystals," Electron. Lett., Vol. 42, No. 16, 899-900, Aug. 2006.
doi:10.1049/el:20061541

4. Legay, H., et al. "Satellite antennas based on MEMS tunable reflectarrays," Proc. Antennas and Propagation, EuCAP 2007, 1-6, Nov. 11 2007.

5. Perret, E., H. Aubert, and H. Legay, "Scale-changing technique for the electromagnetic modeling of MEMS-controlled planar phase shifters," IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., Vol. 54, 3594-3601, Sept. 2006.
doi:10.1109/TMTT.2006.879777

6. Dubrovka, R., J. Vazquez, C. Parina, and D. Moor, "Equivalent circuit method for analysis and synthesis of frequency selective surfaces," IEE Proc. Microw. Antennas Propag., Vol. 153, No. 3, 213-220, Jun. 2006.
doi:10.1049/ip-map:20050198

7. Hum, S. V., M. Okoniewski, and R. J. Davies, "Modeling and design of electronically tunable reflectarrays," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 55, No. 8, 2200-2210, Aug. 2007.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2007.902002

8. Legay, H., et al. "MEMS controlled linearly polarised reflectarra elements," 12th Int. Antenna Technol. Appl. Electromagn. Symp., Jul. 16 2006.

9. Goldsmith, C. L., Z. Yao, S. Eshelman, and D. Denniston, "Performance of low-loss RF MEMS capacitive switches," IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, Vol. 8, No. 8, 269-271, Aug. 1998.
doi:10.1109/75.704410

10. Peroulis, D., S. Pacheco, K. Sarabandi, and L. P. B. Katehi, "Tunable lumped components with applications to reconfigurable MEMS filters," IEEE Int. Microw Symp. Digest, Vol. 1, 341-344, May 20 2001.

11. Nadarassin, M., H. Aubert, and H. Baudrand, "Analysis of plana structures by an integral approach using entire domain trial functions," IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., Vol. 43, No. 10, 2492-2495, Oct. 1995.
doi:10.1109/22.466185

Dr. Farooq Ahmad Tahir

Prof. Herve Aubert

Dr. Etienne Girard