Micromachined smart antennas for low-cost THz sensing and communication systems
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Qamcom Research and Technology AB - QAMCOM RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY AB, Linköping |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 3 499 000 |
| Project duration | September 2017 - April 2021 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | The strategic innovation programme Electronic Components and Systems: |
| Call | Electronic Components and System. Research and Innovation Projects 2017 |
Important results from the project
The goal of the project was to implement a new radar beam-steering concept based on a micromachined switched-feeding point network and a lens antenna, for an industrial radar prototype at 340 GHz with a bandwidth of 30 GHz, resulting in a 0.5 cm range resolution.
Expected long term effects
Design has been successfully completed. Prototypes were successfully fabricated. The lens antenna, active radar front-end, single MEMS SPDT switching circuits were successfully demonstrated. The complete system could not be demonstrated since the assembly of a prototype with full functionality was still ongoing at project end. The whole system will be demonstrated and results disseminated when the necessary measurement setup is available (autumn 2021). The work in this project enabled the consortium to evaluate this new radar technology and its complexity.
Approach and implementation
The design phase went smoothly but the fabrication of the prototypes too much more time than anticipated due to the technological challenges of the proposed solution and the complexity of the problem. A total of seven pre-fabrication runs and two fabrication rounds of the final circuits were conducted. The prototype could not be completed and characterized during the project time, but the work towards the demonstrator enabled an evaluation of this technology, in particular its development complexity, for new sub-THz radar applications.