Joint Design and Co-integration of Antenna-IC Systems

Paper in proceedings, 2019

An overview of design challenges for beamforming active antenna arrays, which are needed to meet high-performance demands of future emerging applications, is presented. The critical role of antenna element mutual coupling on the receiving system sensitivity of array receivers, and effective radiated power of MIMO-type array transmitters is discussed. Trade-offs, common misconceptions, and practical examples are shown and discussed. Techniques towards strong integration between antennas and LNAs/PAs that blurs the geometrical boundaries between them are presented. This will cover mm-wave antenna design examples, where direct matching of active devices to their optimal source/load impedances eliminates the losses of 50-Ohm impedance matching networks. An antenna-integrated high-efficiency (Doherty) PA, operating at the sub-6 GHz band and utilizing active load modulation, will be taken as an on-antenna power combining example, including optimization aspects and over-the-air characterization.