Phase Shifters based on RF MEMS coplanar shunt switches

This paper presents the experimental results obtained on a digital phase shifter based on RF MEMS coplanar shunt switches for radar, beam forming applications. A new design approach is proposed for the design of digital distributed MEMS phase shifters, and the image parameter representation of two port networks is used to develop an analytic model for this component. Vector Network Analyzer measurements have been performed by recording the scattering (S) parameters of the reflected and transmitted signals, and they have been elaborated to get the signal phase shift around the frequency F = 13.7 GHz used for the design. Actually, good performances of the phase shifter have been obtained with respect to the expected ones.