A Phased Array Configuration with Fixed and Variable Phase Shifters for Cost Reduction

A low-cost array configuration is proposed for high efficient phased array antennas. A subarray with two elements sharing a common variable phase shifter is designed as the basic radiator. A fixed phase shifter connecting to one of the elements of the subarray with optimized phase difference through the Particle Swarm Optimizer (PSO) algorithm is proposed to compensate the quantization errors, thus improving the scanning range and the antenna efficiency.