Executive Summary : | RF signal transmission is mainly required for defence and security related communications. Transmission and receiving RF signal in any precise direction requires switching components to transmit or block the RF signal transmission. Electronic beam steering is a key issue in phased arrays and is widely used in military and commercial applications such as radar systems and wireless communications. Many studies have been carried out on electronic beam steering and the most popular method is to use phase shifters in combination with an antenna array. Phase shifters are critical components because they are the general devices used in phased arrays. This is especially true in transceiver modules because phase shifters can produce phase shifts between the elements of an antenna array and can steer the beam to the desired direction. However, the cost of a phase shifter accounts for nearly half of the cost of an entire electronically scanned phased array. In addition, most of the popular semiconductor-based phase shifters have high losses, especially at the millimeter (mm) wave frequencies. For the most part, cost effective and rigid beam steering mechanism is still absent for radar based applications and endorses for the quest of acceptable solution. Presently, RF signal switching is achieved via conventional field-effect transistors and PIN diode switches. These components are well established in terms of functionalities, however, suffers with some issues such as sub-threshold currents, high power consumption, poor isolation and high insertion losses. Also their integration with CPW lines requires complex circuitry to achieve the RF switching functionality. An alternative solution is proposed to use MEMS switches onto CPW lines to achieve the RF switching by eliminating all the issues mentioned earlier. The proposed module will be used to switch the RF signal in desired directions with advantages like near-ideal behaviour, low power consumption, superior isolation and lower insertion loss. |