A low cost 1K elements phased array antenna

In this paper, a low cost phased array antenna system with nearly 1K microstrip antenna patches for mobile broadcast satellite reception in Ku-band will be introduced. The height of the antenna is only 6 cm and the system has two-dimensional electronic scanning capability. The main objective of this design is to develop phased array system with very low cost components and a minimum number of tracking sensors. A novel beamforming algorithm compensates for the fabrication inaccuracies of the microwave components and variations in their characteristics due to ambient changes.