Development and Research of Phased Array Antenna Control Unit for Educational Purposes

The research examined the technology of creating one of the main component of the phased array antenna - the phase shifter control unit. This control unit is designed to operate a phased array antenna model of four emitters for academic purposes. The antenna model includes four emitters, in the circuit of each emitter there are two switches that form the necessary phase shifts. Switches can be changed over in three directions, which allows the formation of three antenna beams. The control unit sends commands to each switch to select one of three possible states, which allows to form the required phase distribution on the emitters. To create a control unit, the method of printed circuits was used, and the program "Sprint-Layout 6" was used for the wiring of printed circuit boards. The relevance of using this method to reduce the size, weight and cost of the antenna system nodes is also noted, which is an important factor in the design of antennas