Domino-Tiled Phased Arrays for Beyond 100 GHz Multi-User MIMO Communication

Abstract

Domino-tiled phased arrays (DTPA), based on two-element single polarized subarrays, are conceived for beyond 100 GHz multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication. Compared to lower frequencies, the small wavelength poses stringent requirements on the connections between the integrated circuit (IC) and antenna array, as the antenna dimensions are comparable to IC size. To address this problem, the tiling configuration of DTPAs is optimized by a genetic algorithm (GA) while jointly maximizing the spectral efficiency (SE) and reducing side lobe levels (SLLs), considering above 100 GHz channel models for multiple users. As a proof-of-concept, optimized DTPAs for an array size of 8x10 are realized in full-wave EM simulator through a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing process. Our optimized DTPAs yield more than 16% impedance bandwidth, targeting the [120-140] GHz D-band. Moreover, the optimized DTPAs reach a SE and SLL up to 3.7 b/s/Hz and -13 dB for a two-user scenario.