An X-Band CMOS Digital Phased Array Radar from Hardware to Software

Phased array technology features rapid and directional scanning and has become a promising approach for remote sensing and wireless communication. In addition, element-level digitization has increased the feasibility of complicated signal processing and simultaneous multi-beamforming processes. However, the high cost and bulky characteristics of beam-steering systems have prevented their extensive application. In this paper, an X-band element-level digital phased array radar utilizing fully integrated complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transceivers is proposed for achieving a low-cost and compact-size digital beamforming system. An 8–10 GHz transceiver system-on-chip (SoC) fabricated in 65 nm CMOS technology offers baseband filtering, frequency translation, and global clock synchronization through the proposed periodic pulse injection technique. A 16-element subarray module with an SoC integration, antenna-in-package, and tile array configuration achieves digital beamforming, back-end computing, and dc–dc conversion with a size of 317 ×149 × 74.6 mm3. A radar demonstrator with scalable subarray modules simultaneously realizes range sensing and azimuth recognition for pulsed radar configurations. Captured by the suggested software-defined pulsed radar, a complete range–azimuth figure with a 1 km maximum observation range can be displayed within 150 ms under the current implementation.

QoS-Aware Power Allocation for Multi-UAV Aided Networks

UAV base stations (UAVBS’s) have been proposed as a revolution for the new architecture of 5G networks. The UAVBS’s can be deployed as access points to provide wireless services to users in emergency scenarios. However, it is challenging to solve the highly coupled problem for UAVBS deployment and power allocation. In the meanwhile, the hybrid analog and digital beamforming is leverage to reduce the hardware cost for beamforming in 5G networks. In this work, we first use k-means algorithm to solve the 3D placement of UAVBS’s by exploiting the optimal coverage altitude. Next, power allocation problem is resolved using the difference-of-two-convex functions (D.C.) programming algorithm. Furthermore, the quality of service (QoS) for each user is guaranteed by adjusting the transmitted power. Finally, extensive experiments are conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed algorithm.

Research and Modeling of Digital Antenna Arrays with Directional Elements on Azimuth-Elevation in VHF Terrain and Vegetation Multipath Propagation Situations

In the paper the problem of using digital antenna arrays equipped with dipole and directive elements simultaneously in the azimuthal and elevation planes is discussed. In particular, they are investigated for communication channels of the VHF range below 1 GHz. This range is characterized by the fact that it has found wide distribution. However, its application is fraught with many difficulties, such as attenuation, reflection from rough surfaces, etc. One of the solutions to these problems can be azimuth-elevation digital beamforming. The paper presents the simulation results for the propagation of signals in the VHF range in free space, two-ray ground-reflection and foliage models. It is assumed that a symmetrical dipole is used on the transmitting side, and a directional Yagi antenna on the receiving digital antenna array (DAA) also equipped with a dipole. The circular (CAA) and hemi-dodecahedron shapes of the arrangement of elements of the receiving digital antenna array are simulated. The bit error rates (BER) depending on the distance between the transmitter and the receiver are estimated for the three above mentioned cases.

Onboard Digital Beamformer with Multi-Frequency and Multi-Group Time Delays for High-Resolution Wide-Swath SAR

Scan-on-receive (SCORE) digital beamforming (DBF) in elevation can significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and suppress range ambiguities in spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR). It has been identified as one of the important methods to obtain high-resolution wide-swath (HRWS) SAR images. However, with the improvement of geometric resolution and swath width, the residual pulse extension loss (PEL) due to the long pulse duration in the conventional spaceborne onboard DBF processor must be considered and reduced. In this paper, according to the imaging geometry of the spaceborne DBF SAR system, the reason for the large attenuation of the receiving gain at the edge of the wide swath is analyzed, and two improved onboard DBF methods to mitigate the receive gain loss are given and analyzed. Taking account of both the advantages and drawbacks of the two improved DBF methods presented, a novel onboard DBF processor with multi-frequency and multi-group time delays in HRWS SAR is proposed. Compared with the DBF processor only with multi-group time delays, the downlink data rate was clearly reduced, while focusing performance degradation due to phase and amplitude errors between different frequency bands could be mitigated compared with the DBF processor only with multi-frequency time delays. The simulation results of both point and distributed targets validate the proposed DBF processor.

Research on 5G-Oriented Wireless Sensor Array of Millimeter Hybrid Beam Sensing Terminal

With the rapid development of information technology, facing the problems and new challenges brought by mobile Internet and Internet of things technology, as one of the key technologies of 5G, millimeter-wave mobile communication (28/38/60/70 GHz) which can realize gigabit (GB/s, or even higher) data transmission rate has also attracted extensive attention of wireless researchers all over the world, it has quickly become a research hotspot in the field of wireless communication. In the millimeter-wave massive MIMO downlink wireless sensor system, a block diagonal beamforming algorithm based on the approximate inverse of Neumann series is improved to obtain complete digital beamforming. Then, when designing hybrid beamforming, channel estimation and high-dimensional singular value decomposition are required for traditional analog and digital hybrid beamforming. A low complexity hybrid beamforming scheme is designed. An improved gradient projection algorithm is proposed in the design of analog beamforming, which can solve the problem of high computational complexity and less damage to guarantee and rate. Simulation results show that the hybrid beam terminal of the sensor reduces the number of RF links required for full digital beamforming and is as close to the spectral efficiency performance of full digital beamforming as possible. The results show that the performance of the designed hybrid beamforming scheme can still be close to that of the pure digital beamforming scheme without involving channel estimation and SVD decomposition.