论文名称：Millimeter-Wave Beam-Scanning Antenna With Unconventional Array-of-Array Architecture Optimized by Null-Pull Strategy。相控阵技术通常面临制造成本高、集成密度大以及散热困难等问题，这限制了其应用，特别是在毫米波频段的大规模相控阵中。本文介绍了一种非常规的“阵列阵”架构，该架构通过稀疏激励的阵列拓扑应对上述挑战。该架构将天线单元划分为不同类别，包括馈电单元、非馈电单元及位移单元。馈电单元通过一分二功分器进行聚类，随后阵列被划分为多个超子阵，以确保其在E波段的可实现性。接着，采用“零陷牵引”阵列分区策略对阵列拓扑进行优化，该策略综合考虑了天线单元、子阵及超子阵的辐射特性对阵列分区的影响。基于这些方法，所提架构通过幅相综合能够确保在方位面实现±60°、俯仰面实现±30°的宽角扫描能力。其次，设计了一款采用缝隙耦合馈线的宽带磁电偶极子作为天线单元，其工作频率覆盖66-76 GHz。最后，设计、加工并测试了一个16 × 16规模的阵列样机以验证理论与仿真的正确性，该样机相较于非稀疏阵列通道数减少了79.63%。该架构为毫米波通信系统中的高密度系统集成提供了一种工程可行性强的解决方案。

工作主要完成人：孙建旭，余劲锋，程钰间。

论文链接：https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10762893

Abstract—The phased array technologies usually suffer from high fabrication costs, high-density integration, and heat dissipation, which limit their use, particularly for large-scale phased arrays at the millimeter-wave frequency bands. This article introduces the concept of an unconventional array-of-array (AoA) architecture, which addresses these challenges by employing a sparsely excited array topology. The AoA architecture classifies antenna elements into different categories, including active elements, inactive elements, and displaced elements. The active elements are clustered by the 1-to-2 power dividers. Then, the array is divided into multiple super subarrays to maintain the realizability of the phased array at the E-band. After that, the array topology is optimized by the null-pull array partition strategy, which considers the impact of the radiation characteristics of antenna elements, subarrays, and super subarrays on the array partition. Based on these methods, the proposed architecture can ensure the wide-scanning ability of ±60° in the horizontal plane and ±30° in the vertical plane by the amplitude-phase synthesis. Next, the wideband magnetoelectric (ME) dipole with the slot-coupled feedline is designed as the antenna element, which operates from 66 to 76 GHz. Finally, a 16 × 16 array prototype with 79.63% channel reduction is designed, fabricated, and measured to verify the correctness of the theory and simulation. It offers a promising solution with enhanced engineering feasibility for high-density system integration in millimeter-wave communication systems.

Index Terms—Array of array (AoA), beam-scanning antenna, grating lobe suppression, magnetoelectric (ME) dipole, millimeter-wave, sparsely excited array, subarray, unconventional phased array.