A novel bi-directional amplifier with applications in active Van Atta retrodirective arrays

TLDR: In this article, a two-port bi-directional amplifier, which may simultaneously amplify the waves coming from both ports, is proposed and demonstrated using this amplifier, using two-element active Van Atta retrodirective array is implemented and compared to a four-element passive array.

Abstract: A novel two-port bi-directional amplifier, which may simultaneously amplify the waves coming from both ports, is proposed and demonstrated in this paper Using this amplifier, a two-element active Van Atta retrodirective array is implemented and compared to a four-element passive array The bi-directional amplifier is constructed by two identical one-port reflection-type amplifiers and a 3-dB 90/spl deg/ hybrid The reflection-type amplifier is designed using an FET with a single-power-supply configuration A quarter-wavelength microstrip radial stub is connected to the device's source terminal to narrow down the negative-resistance frequency range so as to avoid oscillation at undesired frequencies The fabricated bi-directional amplifier provides the transmission gain over the frequency band from 576 to 688 GHz, with a peak value of 91 dB at 604 GHz Printed Yagi antennas with four directors are adopted to build both the active and passive Van Atta arrays The 3-dB back-scattering beamwidth of the active array is measured as wide as 74/spl deg/ Finally, it is observed from the measurements that, although only half of the antenna elements are used, the active Van Atta array produces a back-scattering field level 45 dB, on average, higher than the passive one does This verifies the performance of the bi-directional amplifier