mmWave Transmit Beamforming IC

RFMW announces design and sales support for a beamforming IC from Renesas. The F6522 is an 8-channel transmit active beamforming RFIC designed for application in Ka-Band SATCOM planar phased array antennas from 27.5 to 31 GHz. The IC has a single common RF input port and eight independently controlled output channels which can drive eight single-polarized elements or four dual-polarized elements of an electronically scanned array (ESA). Each channel has 6-bits of digital phase control covering 360° and 25 dB of gain control with a minimum step size of 0.2 dB, enabling precise beam pattern and polarization control. Operating from a single supply of 2.1–2.5V, the RFIC has 28 dB of nominal small signal gain with a typical P1dB of 11 dBm per channel. SPI bus and control pins operate from standard 1.8V logic at speeds up to 50 MHz. Advanced digital modes and large on-chip memory allows for < 100 ns beam position switching times at the array level, greatly reducing dead time and latency.