Full 3D Coverage Beamforming Phased Array with Reduced Phase Shifters and Control 2D Tunable 3 × 3 Nolen Matrix

In this paper, a 3D beamforming phased array with 2D stacked tunable Nolen matrix is presented. The fundamental building block - tunable Nolen matrix is proposed to relax phase tuning range of phased shifters and reduce the complexity of control mechanism by embedding tunable phase shifters within Nolen matrix. For each input port excitation of proposed tunable Nolen network, a tunable progressive phase difference within range of 120○ is obtained at its output ports, and full 360○ range is achieved by exciting all three input ports. By stacking and cascading six 3 × 3 Nolen matrices, nine radiation beams in unique cubic sector can be continuously steered on azimuth and elevation planes, realizing full 3D beamforming function. To verify the design concept, the network has been simulated at 5.8GHz, and the simulation results agree well with theoretical analysis.