RF Challenges in the Design of Phased-Array Antennas for 5G and Satcom Front-Ends

Future mobile communications, be they satellite or 5G, call for the use of active, electronically steerable, planar antenna arrays operating, among others, in the Ka-band. The performance specifications of such systems are quite demanding, as high power is required to comply with the link budgets. Component size, power efficiency and thermal management are some of the bottlenecks for the design of phased arrays for future communications systems. This paper gives an overview of these challenges and their potential solutions.