A Software-Defined mmWave Radio Architecture Comprised of Modular, Controllable Pixels to Attain Near-Infinite Pattern, Polarization, and Beam Steering Angles IMS

This paper presents a software-defined mmWave radio architecture using modular/controllable antenna pixels for 5G/B5G beamforming systems. The operating mechanism of the proposed phased array is conceptually analogous to that of a field programmable gate array (FGPA) board. The proposed concept not only supports almost infinite radiation modes, but is fully compatible with the currently existing mmWave beamforming architecture. The proposed concept can be modularly expanded into a two-dimensional structure exemplified in the 4 × 4 array using a low temperature co-fired ceramic process. The proof-of-concept model features multiple polarizations with different beamsteering angle selected from 5^13 theoretically available modes.