The main purpose of this paper is to review the framework behind direct digital synthesizer phase-locked loops (DDS-PLLs), as well as to provide a set of novel techniques that can be used during the development and the deployment of phased arrays based on local oscillator (LO) phase shifting approaches. A beam steering transmitter prototype employing our revised DDS-PLL architecture and the experimental results obtained during its characterization are presented. The main contribution of the proposed implementation consists in showing that the output phase increments of the DDS-PLL are unaffected by the frequency multiplication operated by the PLL. The proposed prototype is centered at 3.350 GHz and allows to independently set the phase of its four LOs at 2.453 GHz with an 8-bit resolution. The DDS-PLL architecture is frequency-independent, and the modular structure of its phase control units allows to achieve different phase resolutions with a very small redesign effort. INDEX TERMS Beam steering transmitter, DDS-PLL, direct digital synthesizer (DDS), phase-locked loop (PLL), phase shifter.
Abstract. A comprehensive study on the role of the phase errors distribution on the performances of the phased array systems has been produced. The analysis is brought out using a complete and behavioural model for radiation-pattern characteristics. The study has shown how the phase errors distribution actually affects the performances demonstrating that the rms phase error is a valuable figure of merit of phased array systems but it is not sufficient to completely describe the behaviour of a real system. The paper demonstrates that the antennas array beam shape is depending by the actual error phase distribution and that a good phase shifter has to have the phase errors as constant as possible and with a low rms value.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.