A 4 × 4 Butler matrix with switching/steering beams based on new tunable phase difference couplers

Taleb Mohamed Benaouf (1, 2) , Abdelaziz Hamdoun (3, 4) , Mohamed Himdi (5, 6) , Olivier Lafond (5, 6) , Hassan Ammor (1, 2)

1 EMI - Ecole Mohammadia d'Ingénieurs
2 UM5 - Université Mohammed V de Rabat [Agdal]
3 UP - Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers
4 XLIM - XLIM
5 UR - Université de Rennes
6 IETR - Institut d'Électronique et des Technologies du numéRique

Basically, a 4 × 4 Butler matrix (BM) connected to an antenna array allows to have four beams, each oriented in a specific direction depending on the excitation port. In this paper, an almost continuously steerable beam system based on a conventional 4 × 4 BM with adjustable phase shift is presented and demonstrated. Here, varicap diodes are used instead of an additional phase shifter. Under different bias levels applied to the couplers throughout these varicap diodes, an output variable phase difference was obtained. A prototype of the proposed tunable BM integrated with an antenna array operating at 3.5 GHz was fabricated and tested. The experimental results show a good agreement with those simulated. A reflection and isolation coefficient better than −15 dB over the entire desired frequency band and an amplitude imbalance lower than ±1.5 dB were achieved. The measured radiating beam under different DC biasing can be oriented from ±6° to ±18° when port 1 or 4 is excited and oriented from ±32° to ±43° for ports 2 and 3.

Mots clés: wireless application; antenna; beamforming; Butler Matrix; continuous tunability; reconfigurable 3dB coupler

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Taleb Mohamed Benaouf, Abdelaziz Hamdoun, Mohamed Himdi, Olivier Lafond, Hassan Ammor. A 4 × 4 Butler matrix with switching/steering beams based on new tunable phase difference couplers. International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, 2024, pp.1-10. ⟨10.1017/s175907872300154x⟩. ⟨hal-04566392⟩