A High-Resolution Amplitude-Phase Control Method for 2-bit Time-Modulated Phased Arrays

A high-resolution amplitude and phase control (HRAPC) method for 2-bit single-sideband (SSB) time-modulated (TM) technology is proposed in this article. The desired time sequences are generated by the intersection of two control signals, and the amplitude control resolution of the TM module is greatly improved. To verify the validity of the HRAPC method, a 2-bit SSB TM module is designed and fabricated, and its attenuation and phase shift performance are measured by the HRAPC method and the conventional method, respectively. The experiments are in good agreement with the simulations, and the results show that the attenuation resolution of the 2-bit SSB TM module achieved by the conventional control method is 5-bit in a 15.50 dB attenuation range at 10 MHz modulation frequency, while the HRAPC method can improve it to 7-bit in the attenuation range of 31.75 dB, and the phase shift resolution remains unchanged. Furthermore, a $1\,\,\times8$ -element passive array antenna is designed by using the SSB TM modules. The low sidelobe and beam scanning performance of the array in the HRAPC method are verified by experiments.