Flexible and Scalable Additively Manufactured Tile-Based Phased Arrays for Satellite Communication and 5G mmWave Applications

This paper presents a novel flexible and scalable tiled phased array antenna operating in K band, with individual phased array tiles and a corporate feeding network achieved by microstrip-to-microstrip transition. The prototype fabrication utilizes additive manufacturing to achieve low-cost and flexible features. Both simulation and measurements for a 2 by 2 array demonstrate good radiation and beam steerability. The basic structure of this four-tile array can be conveniently scaled to any larger array of 2(N) elements or for higher frequency applications. This design can be applied to active phased-array radars and support future demand for high volume 5G communication.