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J. O

berh

am

mer

NO

RD

ITE 2

009-1

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RF MEMS Steerable Antennas for Automotive Radar and

Future Wireless Applications (SARFA)

J. Oberhammer N. Somjit

M. Sterner

S. Dudorov

A. Räisänen D. Chicherin

S. Dudorov

D. Lioubtchenko

T. Zvolenski

J. Hjelmstad S.A. Askeland

S.C. Saha

T. Cella

2 BACKGROUND

J. O

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am

mer, S

ARFA, 2011-0

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telecom

remote sensing

RF MEMS = electrical components based on micromechanics, with near-ideal electrical performance

test&measure

OMRON

TRONICS

TRONICS/NOKIA

VTT

UMich

Why RF MEMS?

- better performance

- new functionality

- higher frequencies

- ideal components for needed recon-

figurability of future RF front-ends

Variety of applications:

- telecommunication (consumer,

backbone, satellite)

- remote sensing (radar: car, industrial,

surveillance, consumer)

- test and measurement

Market access (MEMS):

- low-volume high-cost applications

- extremely high-volume low-cost app.

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RF MEMS + =

• all commercial microelectronics volume production has left Skandinavia

• however, MEMS production is successful established in Svandinavia, and even growing:

– SensoNor (Norway): 60% market share on tire pressure sensors in Europe

– Silex Microsystems (Sweden): one of the world’s three largest MEMS independent foundries; pure production company

– VTI (Finland): MEMS car sensor manufacturer

SARFA supporter

phase I + II

SARFA supporter

phase I + II

SARFA supporter

phase I

?

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ARFA, 2011-0

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MOTIVATION

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Developing innovative RF/microwave MEMS technology

for future remote sensing/beam steering applications

Focus: new concepts + components + system perspective

multi-beam steerable beam

re-configurable, high-capacity communication links

surveillance radar security

medical:

mmW radiometry industrial radar

automotive radar

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OBJECTIVES

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• Silex (*)

• MicroComp Nordic (*)

• Autoliv

• Volvo TEC

• Elekrobit MW (*) (<2008)

• DA Design (>2008)

• VTI (<2008)

• SensoNor (*)

• Triad (*)

• Ericsson (<2008)

• Norbit (*)

Project Partners

Norway • NTNU Trondheim

Finland

• Aalto Helsinki

Sweden

• KTH Stockholm

Total funded budget: ~EUR 2.4 million (2006-2010)

PI: 3 056 000 SEK

PII: 5 223 000 SEK

PI: 298 000 EUR

PII: 480 000 EUR PI: 2 234 000 NOK

PII: 3 868 000 NOK

(*) most active industrial partners

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MEMS tuneable metamaterial surfaces Work Package 1: MEMS tunable high-impedance metamaterial surfaces for beam steering Work Package 2 (2nd phase only): MEMS tuneable leaky-wave antennas Key achievements WP1+2: - demonstrator of world’s first MEMS tuneable high-impedance metamaterial surfaces - waveguide integrated MEMS HIS phase shifter - MEMS tuneable leaky wave antennas

WP1

WP leader

J. O

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am

mer, S

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7 Tuneable High-Impedance

Metamaterial Surfaces

Periodic surface pattern with

resonance of el-magn surface wave: - surface impedance: Zs → ±j∞

- reflection coefficient: +180°→ -180°

MEMS distributed actuators:

localized phase tuning for quasi-optical

beam steering

WP1

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am

mer, S

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Large-scale Array prototypes

200×52 array, 70x18mm2 fullfilling specs of automotive radar

WP1

10mm

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9 Spin-off activity: waveguide

stub phase-shifter

WP1

direct collaboration with MicroComp

Nordic (industrial supporter, Sweden)

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MEMS tuneable

Leaky-wave Antennas

Direct beam steering: steerable leaky wave antennas by MEMS HIS

WP2

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Work Package 3: MEMS tuneable dielectric-block phase shifters for wafer-scale integrated high-directivity antenna arrays Key achievements: - world’s best performance 75-110 GHz phase shifter

WP3

WP leader

J. O

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am

mer, S

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Multi-stage Phase Shifters

45º

45º

45º

45º

45º

45º

45º

linear 7x45° 3bit

45º

45º

45º

45º

45º

30º

15º

binary 15°+30°+5x45°

4.25bit

45°

15°

30°

etch-hole size in Si blocks: tailor-made artificially designed permittivity

WP3

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wide-band design: 75-110 GHz

13 Electrical Performance

Achievements:

• best performance (Δφ/dB,

dB/bit, RL) ever reported in

literature for 75-110 GHz

• Best Paper Award IEEE

EuMIC conference 2009

• Graduate Fellowship IEEE

MTT-Society 2010 + 2011

WP3

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am

mer, S

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Work Package 4: System and application perspective Achievements: - demonstration of conformal antenna array and system performance modelling still ongoing: out-of-phase with NORDITE

WP4

WP leader

J. O

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am

mer, S

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Focus WP4: System Perspective

• evaluate system properties of MEMS 77 GHz front-end design for automotive, industrial and security radar applications.

• communication and meetings with new potential industrial users (successful: 2 new industrial supporters in Norway during phase 2)

• investigation of conformal arrays for surveillance radar applications

Ongoing:

• market survey, opportunity analysis special application focus: miniature security sensors, maritime short-range radar

WP4

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mer, S

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Activities of supporters

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77GHz 16channel radar transceiver

precision machined waveguides

and MEMS chip assembly

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Management

• 10 Steering Group meetings: average 10 participants, of which 4 industrial

• 2 extraordinary technical meetings

• 2 new industrial supporters joined during project time

• researcher exchange: – short-time: total about 4 weeks – long-term: S. Dudorov (Aalto->KTH), 6 months

Spin-off projects

• spin-off EU FP7 project ”TUMESA - MEMS Tuneable Metamaterials for Smart Wireless Applications”, 2008-2011, 3 of 5 participants from SARFA

• adjoining EU FP7 project “ADOSE - Reliable application specific detection of road users with vehicle on-board sensors”, 2008-2010, 1 of 10 participants from SARFA

• EU FP7 submitted proposal “ADIMTAS - Adaptive Integrated MEMS Tuneable Antenna Systems”, 3 of 5 applicants from SARFA

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Publications and training

total of 38 publications:

• 29 conference papers

• 9 journal papers

theses

• 5 master theses

• 3 PhD thesis (planned 2011, 70-100% NORDITE)

Best Paper Award at

IEEE EuMIC Conference!

(Rome, Italy, Sept/Oct 2009) “exponential growth”

of number of papers during

project time, as activities

started from scratch (Aalto

had only done simulations)

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Summary

• NORDITE-SARFA: – future remote sensing/beam steering technology – very unconventional, innovative concepts (high risk/high gain) – addressing different Scandinavian industrial groups – hardware focus + system level perspective – no previous collaboration between academic partners

• industrial supporters: – very strong presence of most industrial supporters – active involvement of unfunded industrial supporters (either

direct or adjoining activities) – two new industrial supporters joining during project

• scientific results and researcher training: – best paper + fellowship award – 38 publications, 5 MSc thesis, 3(+2) PhD thesis expected

• side-effects: – long-term trustful Scandinavian collaboration beyond NORDITE – EU projects: 1 spin-off, 1 adjoining, 1 proposal – established RF MEMS research group (KTH, now 7 people)

J. O

berh

am

mer, S

ARFA, 2011-0

6-1

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