Broadband Beam Steering Algorithm for a Ka-Band AESA Frontend

In this paper, the theory and simulation results of a steering algorithm designed to steer the viewing direction of an broadband Ka-Band active electronically scanned phased array are proposed. It consists of a hybrid RF frontend that includes multiple true time delays, each paired with subarrays of several phase shifters. The algorithm determined the ideal time delay distribution between the array elements to steer in a specific direction around the array center. Subsequently, the algorithm performs a quantization by combining given true time delay and phase shift delay state matrices, approximating the ideal time delay. A system simulation shows a remaining squint effect with a beam shift of less than 0.3 deg over the frequency range and a beam pointing deviation of around ±1 deg in theta and phi.