Synthesis of Quasi-Modular Circularly Polarized 5G Base Station Antenna Arrays Based on Irregular Clustering and Sequential Rotation

An unconventional, yet quasi-modular base station phased array architecture synthesis technique is proposed for multiuser fifth-generation applications. By keeping uniform amplitudes and linearly progressing phases at the elements of an optimal irregular array, power-efficient side lobe suppression is achieved for effective inter-user interference mitigation. The layout irregularity is achieved within a slice of an array, which is repeated rotationally. The sequential rotation technique is applied to obtain modularity and improve the circular polarization characteristics. A modified k-means clustering algorithm is used to form the optimal subarrays. The simulation results indicate that the proposed quasi-modular topologies provide a good compromise between the side lobe performance and integrated array design complexity.