A Ka-Band 64-element Deployable Active Phased Array Transmitter on a Flexible Hetero Segmented Liquid Crystal Polymer for Small-Satellites

—A Ka-Band 64-element deployable active phased array TX on a hetero segment liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate for small-satellites is proposed. The proposed phased array TX achieved a large array size implementation and a small form factor with integrated 6-layer and 2-layer LCP substrates. Antenna and transmission line designs considering hetero layer junction structure are presented in detail. Achieving 46.7 dBm EIRP, the proposed phased array TX can support 256-APSK DVB-S2X modulation. As a result, the proposed deployable active phased array TX successfully realizes low-launch cost and large antenna aperture size with superior EVM performance.