Micromachined ultra-wideband beamforming network for automotive radar front ends

마이크로머신 기술로 제작한 자동차 프런트엔드용 초광대역 빔성형 네트워크

As anti-crash and pre-crash systems in vehicles become more extensively used, the need for high performance short-range radars is playing an increasing role. This paper presents the design of a micromachined, ultra-wideband beamformer centered at 24 GHz for automotive short-range radar systems. This beamformer is a Butler matrix designed using ultra-wideband transmission-line couplers, which consist of a multilayered structure that exhibits wider bandwidth compared to conventional microstrip branch-line couplers. The circuit has been designed on a quartz substrate, and to achieve the desired coupling, lines suspended on BCB layers located at specific parts of the circuit were used, achieving a three metal layered structure in form of wide microstrips, that give low loss and a wideband response. In this paper the design and fabrication procedure of the proposed beamformer are fully described.