FORMAT: A Reconfigurable Tile-Based Antenna Array System for 5G and 6G Millimeter-Wave Testbeds

Abstract

This article introduces the FORMAT array, a reconfigurable millimeter-wave antenna array platform based on antenna tiles. FORMAT stands for Flexible Organization and Reconfiguration of Millimeter-wave Antenna Tiles, which is a unique hardware solution aiming to implement and demonstrate a variety of antenna array concepts, as well as different array architectures and configurations from the same basic module, providing even benchmark between different solutions and thus valuable insights into fifth-generation (5G) and beyond-5G antenna systems. The combination of a minimum-sized <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2\times 2$</tex-math></inline-formula> tile with 3D-printed frame parts enables antenna arrays of a variety of sizes, allows multiple beamforming architectures, and a range of different antenna element positioning in the array. The hardware implementation is thoroughly described, with a few different array assemblies being manufactured and measured, validating their antenna performance with over-the-air measurements. Finally, using FORMAT hardware as both base station and user equipment, a 5-m wireless communication link was set up, achieving 4.8 Gbps downlink speed with QAM64 modulation.