a major qualifying project report submitted to the faculty of the worcester polytechnic institute.doc

Project Number:
Phased Array Antenna as a Prototype for LOFAR project
A Major Qualifying Project Report:
submitted to the Faculty
of the
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Degree of Bachelor of Science
by
Andrey Berezin
Jesse C. Cantara
Katarzyna J. Kulbacka
Date: April 2003
Approved:
___________________________________
Professor Sergey Makarov, Major Advisor
1. antenna
2. phased array
3. digital beam forming

Abstract
Simulation, design and construction of a small size, receiving, dual polarized phased array antenna as a prototype for Low Frequency Array project. Antenna performance was evaluated using MATLAB based ic solver. Design puter controlled beam forming and steering. Power of the received signal was evaluated as a function of beam position and made available to puter interface. A MATLAB interface was developed for two-dimensional scanning.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Prof. Sergey Makarov for devoting significant amounts of time to our project. We would also like to thank Gerd Kueppers for building the mechanical antenna structure and for his valuable technical support and advising throughout the duration of the entire project. Thanks to our sponsors Brian Corey and Eric Kratzenberg from the MIT Haystack Observatory for the financial support and for giving us an opportunity to work on this project.
Table of Contents
Abstract 2
Acknowledgements 3
Chapter 1: Introduction 5
Design Specifications 6
Chapter 2: Background 8
Phased Array 8
Linear Array Theory 9
Dense Array Theory 10
Simulations 12
Procedure 13
Simulation Results 14
Chapter 3: System Design 16
System Overview 16
RF/Analog Subsystem 17
Phase Shifter Module 18
biner Module 21
Filter Module 22
Power Meter Module 24
RF/Analog Subsystem Testing 33
RF PCB Design 34
Digital System Design 36
Design Requirements