IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 66, NO.

3, MARCH 2018 1301

An Extended 4 × 4 Butler Matrix With

Enhanced Beam Controllability and
Widened Spatial Coverage
Huy Nam Chu, Student Member, IEEE, and Tzyh-Ghuang Ma , Senior Member, IEEE
Tip #2
Abstract— A new beam-switching array system, capable of an acceptable spatial resolution. With the radiating elements Tip #1
providing four sets of switchable beams, is proposed and demon- spaced at a half-wavelength apart, its main beam is directed to
strated. The core building block for fulfilling the design is ±48.6° and ±14.5° [8]–[13]. To further increase the number of
the phase reconfigurable synthesized transmission line (PRSTL),
whose electrical length is switched between two states as a 1-bit beams, higher order of Butler matrices could be adopted (N =
Tip #2 phase shifter. By cascading the PRSTLs to the outputs of a stan- 8, 16, . . .). Nevertheless, the accumulated power loss and large
dard Butler matrix, the progressive phase shifts between adjacent number of crossovers in the realization make the design still
Tip #2 antenna elements can be controlled in a variety of fashions. The challenging.
new design aims to provide a low-complexity solution to expand Efforts to ease the design difficulties in an 8 × 8 Butler
the beam controllability as well as spatial coverage of a conven- Tip #2
tional beam-switching system. As a demonstration, an extended matrix, specifically the large number of crossovers, were dis-
Tip #2 4 × 4 Butler matrix, with 16 switchable beams, is realized using cussed. For example, Butler matrices on multilayered printed
microstrip technology. The average transmission loss of the feed circuit board [14], low-temperature co-fired ceramic [15], Tip #2
network is acceptable as 1.7 dB. In the measurement, the linear and CMOS technologies [16], [17] have been reported for
array shows an equivalent half-power beamwidth of 118°, covered complexity reduction. Rearrangement of the feed network
by 13 beams, with the peak gain varying from 7 to 10 dBi.
The gain ripple within the equivalent beamwidth is less than was discussed in [18] and [19] as an alternative solution. Tip #2
0.9 dB. The output 1-dB compression point ( P1 dB ) is measured as Advanced designs with wideband operation [20] or even
29.5 dBm, and the dc power consumption is very low (microwatts) continuous beam steering [21]–[23] were reported, mostly at
in all switching states. the expense of extra power loss and higher design complexity.
Index Terms— Beam forming, beam steering, Butler matrix, An 8 × 8 Butler matrix with broadside beam, termed as the
phase shifter, phased array, synthesized transmission line. modified Butler matrix [24], was realized in stripline form
in [25].
Inspired by the operation of the 8×8 Butler matrices, in this
I. I NTRODUCTION
paper, a simple solution to expand the beam controllability of Tip #2
HE beam-forming technique, capable of providing a common 4 × 4 Butler matrix is proposed and demonstrated.
T unique patterns for beam switching or steering, has Since the beamwidth of a typical four-element array sets an
become the core technology in the rapidly developed smart untouchable limitation on spatial resolution, the new design,
antenna systems. The Blass [1]–[3], Nolen [4]–[6], and But- termed as the extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix, is not intended Tip #2
ler matrices [7] are well-known analog solutions offering as a full replacement of the conventional 8 × 8 Butler matrix.
multibeams by alternatively selecting the input excitation. Instead, it equips the 4 × 4 Butler matrix with extra beam
Tip #4
Among these, the Butler matrix, named after its inven- control agility, together with a wide equivalent spatial coverage
Tip #2 tor, has been widely adopted in beam-switching array sys- having high peak gain and low gain ripple, which is not
tems because of its simplicity, low-loss nature, and easy feasible by its single element counterpart.
realization [8]–[25]. The extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix is fulfilled by a cascade
A typical Butler matrix is an N × N network, with N = 2n connection of a standard Butler matrix and extra phase recon- Tip#2
and n = 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . . Due to a large number of quadrature figurable synthesized transmission lines (PRSTLs) [26], [27].
couplers implemented in the network, the circuit complex- The proposed design is capable of providing up to
ity rises dramatically as the number of beams increases. 16 beams, or four sets of beams, using a concise struc-
The 4 × 4 Butler matrix is the most common structure with ture. The beam sets can be categorized into two groups,
which correspond to the main beam directions of a standard Tip#2
Manuscript received June 14, 2017; revised September 22, 2017; accepted
October 18, 2017. Date of publication November 28, 2017; date of current 8 × 8 Butler matrix and those of a modified 8 × 8 one. Instead
version March 5, 2018. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science of utilizing the high-cost commercial phase shifters, varactor
and Technology, Taiwan, under Grant MOST 104-2628-E-011-007-MY3 and diodes are embedded into the PRSTLs to provide the required Tip#2
Grant 104-2221-E-011-026-MY3. (Corresponding author: Tzyh-Ghuang Ma.)
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, National progressive phase shifts. By simply controlling the bias voltage
Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan of the varactors, the electrical length of the PRSTLs can be
(e-mail: tgma@mail.ntust.edu.tw). switched between two states with the impedance matching
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. kept very good. The dc power consumption, meanwhile, is in
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2017.2772815
garmma errorthe order of microwatt (μW). The concept of incorporating
0018-9480 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 1302 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2018

varactor diodes into synthesized lines was first reported in [26]

Tip#2 as an ON/ OFF RF switch. It was then used in [27] as a 1-bit
phase shifter for switching a reconfigurable dual-mode coupler
Tip#2
between branch-line and rat-race operational modes. In this
paper, the PRSTLs are further cascaded, and applied, for the
Tip#2 first time, as an alternative to phase shifters in the array feed
network of a Butler matrix. As will be demonstrated, the pro-
Tip#2 posed beam-switching system shows potentials of enhancing
the beam controllability as well as spatial coverage.
This paper is organized as follows. The design principle of
the extended 4×4 Butler matrix is first discussed in Section II,
followed by the synthesis details and experimental verification
of the PRSTLs in Section III. The experimental results,
including the S-parameters of the array feed network and the
radiation characteristics of the four beam sets, are provided
in Section IV to validate the design concept. Discussions on
the application scopes, as well as power handling capability
of the proposed design, are given at the end of this paper.

II. D ESIGN P RINCIPLES

Fig. 1 illustrates the schematic of the extended 4 × 4 Butler
matrix. It consists of a standard 4 × 4 Butler matrix along
with 2-bit phase shifters attached to the outputs of that matrix
(i.e., ports 5 , 6 , 7 , and 8 ). Here, the ports 5, 6, 7, and 8 are Fig. 1. Schematic of the extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix.
the system outputs connecting to the antenna array, and the
spacing between adjacent radiating elements is d = 0.5λ0 ; λ0 TABLE I
is the free-space wavelength. By controlling the phase shifters, P HASE AND B EAM D ISTRIBUTION OF THE
the extended Butler matrix can provide four sets of main E XTENDED 4 × 4 B UTLER M ATRIX
beams, each associated with four beam directions depending
on the input port selection. The four beam sets are hereinafter
referred to as Sets A, B, C, and D. The amount of phase shift
sourced by the standard 4 × 4 Butler matrix and that by the
extra phase shifters are summed up together to provide the
required progressive phase shifts for achieving the 16 beams.
The output beams are serially numbered as beam #1–beam
#16 in Fig. 1. The required progressive phase shift to achieve
the beam #k can be expressed by
 
N −k+1
δk = π, k = 1, 2, . . . , 16. (1)
N
Table I summarizes the phase and beam distribution of the
extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix. The original progressive phase
shifts of a standard 4 × 4 Butler matrix, when, respectively,
excited from the four inputs, are shown in the first column
as δ Pi (i = 1, . . . , 4); the extra ones sourced by the phase
shifters are listed in the first row as δ S j ( j = A, . . . , D).
Each cell in the table corresponds to a combination of an corresponding to beam #14 with the main beam directed to
input selection from the Butler matrix (δ Pi ) and a specific θ14 = +38.7°.
state of the phase shifters (δ S j ). The upper subcell represents Starting with Set A, with δSA = 0°, the overall
the overall progressive phase shift (δk = δ Pi + δ S j ) of a progressive phase shifts (δk ) are simply ±45° or ±135°,
specified beam #k, while the lower one is the direction of corresponding to a main beam directing to ±14.5° or ±48.6°.
the main beam (θk ). For example, in the operation of Set In a similar way, the main beam is directed to broadside (0°),
C, the extra progressive phase shift, provided by the phase ±30°, or end-fire direction with δSB = +45° in Set B. The
shifters, is δSC = +22.5°; when the port 3 is selected as the union of Sets A and B is coincident with the criterion as a
input port, the progressive phase shift sourced by the standard modified 8 × 8 Butler matrix. With δSC = +22.5° (Set C)
Butler matrix is δ P3 = −135°. The overall progressive phase and δSD = −22.5° (Set D), the requirement as a standard
shift between adjacent elements is hence δk = −112.5°, 8 × 8 Butler matrix is satisfied. Accordingly, a total number

Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 CHU AND MA: EXTENDED 4 × 4 BUTLER MATRIX
Fig. 2. PRSTL. (a) Schematic circuit and its transmission-line equivalence
in (b) state I and (c) state II.
of 16 beams, as predicted by (1), are achieved with a much
simpler configuration. The ideal pattern distribution with
isotropic sources is plotted in Fig. 1 for easy reference.
Instead of using commercially available digital phase
shifters to provide the extra phase shift δ S j , here an alterna-
tive low-complexity solution, the PRSTL with varactor diodes,
is applied [26], [27]. The reason for this replacement is to
alleviate the power loss and to lower down the fabrication
cost. As a rule of thumb, the cost of a common four-digit
phase shifter (such as MAPS-010144-TR0500 from M/A-Com
for fulfilling a phase shift of ±22.5°) is more than 40 times
higher than that of a varactor. Moreover, as will be shown in
the following section, the average loss of a commercial phase
shifter is at least 1.5 dB worse than that of the PRSTLs (around
1 dB when two units are connected in cascade). Their power
handling capability, on the other hand, is in the same order.
III. D ESIGN OF P HASE R ECONFIGURABLE
S YNTHESIZED L INES
A. Synthesis Equations
The schematic circuit of the PRSTL is shown in Fig. 2(a).
It comprises a lumped T-network in-between a pair of common
uniform transmission lines. The series capacitors in the lumped
network are replaced by varactor diodes Cv for controlling the
phase response, and the uniform line is characterized by (Z 0 ,
θx ). The synthesis equations have been introduced in [27]. For
completeness, they are highlighted as follows.
Fig. 2(b) and (c) illustrates the transmission-line equiva-
lences of the PRSTL in the two states. The operating fre-
quency is denoted as f c . The design goal is to make the
electrical length of the PRSTL switchable between two states
preserve while keeping its characteristic impedance remains constant
during reconfiguration. The key design equations are derived
by equating the ABCD matrix of the lumped T-network to
that of a uniform left-handed transmission line, characterized
Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1303
by (Z T 1 , −θ1 ) or (Z T 2 , −θ2 ), as shown in Fig. 2(b) and (c).
Here, θ1 and θ2 are both positive values.
By a simple manipulation, the characteristic impedance of
the T-network, operated in state I, is derived as
Z T 1 = ωc L|sin(−θ1 )| = ωc L sin θ1 . (2)
The phase shift of the T-network is related to the lumped
parameters by
1
cos(−θ1 ) = cos θ1 = 1 − . (3)
ωc2 LC1
Likewise, the electrical responses of the T-network in
state II, achieved by switching its capacitance value from C1
to C2 , are characterized by
Z T 2 = ωc L sin θ2 (4)
1
cos θ2 = 1 − 2 . (5)
ωc LC2
To keep perfect matching during switching, the characteristic
impedance of the T-network should be unchanged in both
states and must be equal to the system impedance Z 0 . This
suggests
Z T 1 = Z T 2 = Z 0. (6)
Equations (2), (4), and (6) lead to
sin θ1 = sin θ2 or θ2 = π − θ1 . (7)
The total electrical lengths of the PRSTL in state I and II are,
therefore,
θSTL1 = 2θx − θ1 (8)
θSTL2 = 2θx − θ2 = 2θx + θ1 − π. (9)
Equations (2)–(9) are a set of system equations that the
PRSTL should be complied with. To synthesize the line,
the two desired phase states (θSTL1 and θSTL2 ) should be
specified in advance. By using (8) and (9), the electrical
lengths of the T-network in both states (−θ1 and −θ2 ) and that
of the uniform line θx are solved. The value of the inductor L
is determined by either (2) or (4) with a given characteristic
impedance of the uniform line Z 0 in (6). Finally, the values of
the varactor diodes, C1 and C2 , are solved from (3) and (5),
respectively.
Clearly, each PRSTL serves as a 1-bit phase shifter,
whose electrical length is reconfigured by controlling the
capacitance value of varactors; the line impedance, mean-
while, remains unaltered. It is worth mentioning that the
given design procedure is general, and can be applied to
synthesize an arbitrary right-handed as well as left-handed
T- or -network within a reasonable range of character-
istic impedances Z 0 . These properties make the proposed
PRSTL clearly different from previous tunable phase shifters
using left-handed structures [28], [29] or composite right-/left-
handed transmission lines [30], [31], in which the character-
istic impedance of the device is a function of the bias voltage
of the varactor diode.
 1304 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2018
TABLE II
E LECTRICAL R ESPONSES OF THE PRSTL S
TABLE III
P HASE R ESPONSES AND O PERATIONAL S TATES OF THE PSL INES
B. Design Requirements
To fulfill the extra progressive phase shift in Table I (δ S j =
0°, +45°, +22.5°, −22.5°), three PRSTLs were developed,
and their electrical properties are summarized in Table II.
The PRSTL A controls its phase response between two states
as a 45° delay line or a zero-phase shift line. The PRSTLs
B/C are switched between zero phase shift (0°) and a phase
advance of 22.5° or 67.5°, respectively. All lines are well
matched to 50 in all states. With a cascade connection of
two PRSTLs, a 2-bit phase shifter, namely a PSLine hereafter
for simplicity, is fulfilled and attached to each of the outputs of
the standard 4×4 Butler matrix. The desired progressive phase
shift (δ S j ) can be realized accordingly. A detailed description
is summarized in Table III.
As an example, at the output port 6 of the standard Butler
matrix, two sections of PRSTLs B are connected in cascade.
With both lines operated in states I (denoted by BI + BI ),
the overall phase shift ( S66 ) is 0°. Instead, if one of them is
switched to state II, the output phase becomes +22.5° (phase
advance), and so on. Following a similar scheme, the output
phases at ports 5–8 of the extended Butler matrix can all be
manipulated, therefore fulfilling the desired progressive phase
shifts in Sets A, B, C, and D, as indicated in Table III.
Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Fig. 3. Final layout and the fabricated sample of the PRSTL A.
TABLE IV
D ESIGN PARAMETERS AND G EOMETRIC D IMENSIONS OF THE PRSTL S
C. Examples
Following the synthesis equations, the PRSTLs, as well
as PSLines, were fabricated on a 0.508-mm Rogers 4003C
substrate (εr = 3.55, tan δ = 0.0027). The center frequency
for demonstration is 2.4 GHz. Here, the designs of the PRSTL
A (Table II) and PSLine 1 (Table III) are detailed. The
responses of all other building blocks will be summarized
in Tables II and III.
1) PRSTL A: The PRSTL A is equivalent to a uniform 50-
line with an electrical length of +45° in state I, but identical
to a section of zero-phase shift line (0°) in the other state.
With θSTL1 = +45° and θSTL2 = 0°, the electrical lengths
θ1 , θ2 , and θx are determined as 67.5°, 112.5°, and 56.25°,
respectively. The shunt inductor, from (4), is L = 3.6 nH in a
50- system. The required capacitance values of the varactor
diodes are C1 = 1.98 pF and C2 = 0.89 pF in the two states.
The calculated values were converted into physical foot-
prints in microstrip form and integrated together. The layout
is shown in Fig. 3, and the design parameters are summarized
in Table IV. A photograph of the fabricated sample is shown
at the same time. The layout was first simulated by the high-
frequency structure simulator (HFSS); the results were then
imported into the advanced design system and co-simulated
with design kits from the manufactures. In the realization,
 CHU AND MA: EXTENDED 4 × 4 BUTLER MATRIX
Fig. 4. S-parameters of the PRSTL A. (a) State I. (b) State II. Insets: phase
responses.
a low-loss varactor diode SMV-1405 from Skyworks was
selected as the switching element. The parasitic resistance,
from the datasheet, is 0.8 . The inductor L was fulfilled by
a quasi-lumped line inductor. The bias network, having been
taken into account throughout the simulation, consists of dc
blocking capacitors (8.2 pF) and RF choke inductors (15 nH)
from Murata Manufacturing. An enlargement of the bias
network is also shown in Fig. 3. After integration and fine
tuning, the line inductor L was slightly trimmed to account
for its parasitic shunt capacitances.
The performances of the PRSTL A are summarized
in Fig. 4. The phase responses are shown as insets. The
vague agreement between the simulation and measured results is
good. In the measurement, the thru-reflect-line calibration
was included to deembed the effects of connectors. The bias
voltages in states I and II were VI = 2.2 V and VII = 13.8 V.
Referring to Fig. 4, the PRSTL A is well matched in
both states, and the transmission coefficient |S21 | is less than
−0.8 dB from 2.3 to 2.5 GHz. At the center frequency,
the power loss in states I and II is 0.5 and 0.6 dB, respectively.
The measured phase delay at the corresponding frequency
is 44.8° (45°) and −1.2° (0°). Both are very close to the
desired values in the parentheses. The dc power consumption
is less than 1 μW since the reverse current is on the order of
nanoamperes (nA).
Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1305
TABLE V
P ERFORMANCE S UMMARY OF THE PRSTL S
2) PRSTLs B, C, and the Power Handling: Using the
similar design rule, two more PRSTLs were designed and
experimentally tested. The design parameters and geometric
dimensions are tabulated in Table IV. Table V provides a
summary of the measured electrical responses of the three
PRSTLs. In small-signal operation, all building blocks fulfill
the design requirements.
The PRSTLs were further tested for power handling.
The measured results of the PRSTL A are summarized
in Fig. 5 and tabulated in Table V. In addition to the output
P1 dB , a new parameter termed as output P10 ° is defined
as a measure of the performance of PRSTLs. Referring to
Fig. 5, the state associated with a higher varactor capacitance,
i.e., state I of PRSTL A, is more sensitive to the input power
level. At an output power of 24.7 dBm, the phase response
deviates from its targeted value by 10°; the insertion loss,
meanwhile, is just increased by 0.3 dB. This point is referred to
as the output P10 °. It is several decibels lower than the output
P1 dB , which is a clear indicator showing that a new parameter
for a fair assessment is required. According to Fig. 5, state
II of the PRSTL A, with a lower varactor capacitance (or
equivalently a wider depletion region of the diode), is less
sensitive to the input power and can function well up to
30 dBm.
The other two PRSTLs were also tested, and the data
listed in Table V correspond to the worst case of each block.
Obviously, the power handling capability of the PRSTLs is
comparable to that of a typical commercial product, such as
the 4-bit phase shifter discussed in Section II.
3) PSLines: In this design, the PRSTLs were cascaded as
2-bit phase shifters for controlling the output progressive phase
shifts of the extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix. The application
scope is quite different from that in [27], in which the PRSTLs
were just used to compensate for the excess phase shift in the
arms of the reconfigurable coupler. As shown in Table III, there
are three kinds of combinations: the PSLine 1 by PRSTLs C
and A, the PSLine 2 by two PRSTLs B, and the PSLine 3
by PRSTLs C and B. In the following, the responses of the
PSLine 1 are illustrated in detail in Fig. 6. The remaining two
are summarized in Table VI for easy reference.
A photograph of the fabricated sample is shown as an inset
of Fig. 6(a). The integration is straightforward, and no tuning
 1306 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2018

Fig. 5. Measured transmission coefficient (S21 ) of the PRSTL A versus input

power at 2.4 GHz.

TABLE VI
P ERFORMANCE S UMMARY OF THE PSL INES

Fig. 6. S-parameters of the PSLine 1. (a) Magnitude response. (b) Phase

response. Inset: photograph of the fabricated sample.

TABLE VII
process is required. In the measurement, the bias voltages of
G EOMETRIC D IMENSIONS OF THE S TANDARD B UTLER M ATRIX
the PRSTLs A and C (VA and VC ) control the PSLine in three
difference states: state 1 with a phase delay of 45°, state 2 with
zero phase shift, and state 3 with a phase advance of 67.5°.
As a 2-bit phase shifter, there is one more state with a phase
advance of 22.5°. Nevertheless, this state is not useful in the
possible by choosing another varactor diode with a larger
current array feed network, and will not be presented here.
junction capacitance. For example, the SMV-2020 series from
Fig. 6(a) and (b) illustrates the simulated and measured
Skyworks is a possible candidate, at the expense of a higher
S-parameters and phase responses of PSLine 1. Very good
transmission loss (∼1 dB for each PRSTL). Such confinement
agreement between the simulation and measured results is
vague could ease the design of the dc-to-dc converter, and make
observed. At the center frequency, the measured transmission
the power supply be easily replaced by a universal serial bus
coefficient (|S21 |) is around −1 dB in all states, while the
module for control agility.
reflection coefficient (|S11 |) is kept below −19 dB. The
measured phase shifts are −46.9° (phase delay), −0.5° (zero
IV. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
phase shift), and +70.2° (phase advance) in states 1, 2, and 3,
respectively. Their corresponding P10 ° are 23 dBm (state 1), A. Layout and Circuit Responses
22.4 dBm (state 2), and 28.6 dBm (state 3). As will be shown The extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix was fabricated; a photo-
in a later part (Section IV-B), when integrated into the array graph of the realized sample is shown in Fig. 7. The cascade
feed network, the actual power handling capability of the connection of the standard 4 × 4 Butler matrix and PSLines
PSLines will be somehow better than their stand-alone cases. follows the guidelines summarized in Table III. The dimen-
The reason will be disclosed along with experimental results sions of the standard Butler matrix are listed in Table VII.
shortly. The overall size is 137.6 × 140 mm2 . For easy connection to
Finally, it is worthy to mention that limiting the bias a linear array, some connecting lines between PRSTLs were
voltage within a confined range, say, from 0 to 5 V, is also meandered. The bias lines were simply connected to the edges

Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 CHU AND MA: EXTENDED 4 × 4 BUTLER MATRIX
Fig. 7. Prototype of the extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix.
Fig. 8. (a) Transmission and (b) reflection coefficients of the extended 4 × 4
Butler matrix when port 1 of beam Set A (beam #11) and port 2 of beam Set
B (beam #1) were excited in turn.
of the substrate. The dc power consumption was very low as
several microwatts in all switching states.
Fig. 8 illustrates the transmission and reflection coefficients
of the extended Butler matrix when the port 1 of beam Set
A (beam #11) and port 2 of beam Set B (beam #1) were in
Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1307
Fig. 9. Progressive phase shifts of the extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix when
port i of beam set A was excited (i = 1, 2, 3, 4).
turn excited. The selection of beam sets (A, B,…, D) was
made by controlling the bias voltages of the PSLines while
the port excitation (1, 2,…, 4) was chosen by an SP4T switch
at the system input. The agreement between simulation and vague
measured results is good. From 2.3 to 2.5 GHz, the measured
reflection coefficients are better than −14 dB while the average
transmission coefficient is −7.7 dB; the extra loss due to the
feed network is therefore 1.7 dB. The amplitude imbalance
is less than 1.2 dB. The isolation between ports, not shown
for simplicity, is better than 18.2 dB. Fig. 9 further illustrates
the progressive phase shifts between output ports when the
beam Set A was selected as the operational mode. In the
measurement, the maximum phase error is 9.3° at the center
frequency. The slight discrepancy between simulation and
measurement can be attributed to the accumulated phase errors
of the quadrature couplers, crossovers, as well as PRSTLs.
Similar responses can be obtained for all kinds of combi-
nation of the input ports and beam sets. The results, however,
are not shown here to avoid redundancy.
B. Radiation Characteristic
The radiation characteristics were validated in a far-field
anechoic chamber along with the NSI-2000 software from
Nearfield Systems Inc. The extended Butler matrix was placed
on a foam stand and mounted on a turntable. The radiating
elements were vertically polarized quasi-Yagi antennas [32].
The simulated and measured radiation patterns of the linear
antenna array, fed by the extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix
and operated at 2.4 GHz in beam Sets A–D, are depicted
in Fig. 10(a)–(d), respectively. The measured results are com-
pared with the simulated ones by HFSS. Good agreement repetitive
between the data is observed, and the error in the main
beam direction is less than 1°. As expected, the main beam
directions in beam Sets A and B are pointed to ±62.5°
(beam #1), ±45° (beams #3, #15), ±30° (beams #5, #13),
±15° (beams #7, #11), and 0° (beam #9); they are similar to
those of a modified 8 × 8 Butler matrix. Meanwhile, in the
Sets C and D, the main beam is steered to ±55° (beams
#2, #16), ±37° (beams #4, #14), ±22° (beams #6, #12), and
±7° (beams #8, #10). The beam directions of a standard
8 × 8 Butler matrix are therefore fully mimicked. From
Fig. 10, the measured peak gain varies from 6.3 dBi (end-fire
beam #1) to 10 dBi (broadside beam #9). The corresponding
 1308 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2018
Fig. 10. Radiation patterns of a linear four-element quasi-Yagi array fed
by the extended 4 × 4 Butler matrix and operated at 2.4 GHz in beam
(a) Set A, (b) Set B, (c) Set C, and (d) Set D.
3-dB beamwidths are 42.5° (beam #1) and 26° (beam #9),
respectively. The gain drop is attributed to the element pattern
of the quasi-Yagi antennas.
Fig. 11 further combines 13 usable beams of the extended
Butler matrix system at 2.4 GHz. The gain envelope is spatially
highlighted with a red bold curve. The equivalent half-power
beamwidth (θHPBWe ) is newly defined as a measure of the
spatial coverage of the extended Butler matrix system as
θHPBWe = |θ L − θ R |. (10)
In (10), θ L and θ R are the two outermost angles at which the
gain of beam #k is exactly 3 dB below the broadside gain (i.e.,
overall peak gain). Equation (10) is subject to the constraint
that
SLLk ≤ (G kmax − 6 dB). (11)
Here, SLLk and G k max are, respectively, the sidelobe level
and peak gain of beam #k. In other words, the three outermost
beams (beams #1, #2, and #16) are removed from Fig. 11 due
to the violation of (11), since the large progressive phase shift
Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Fig. 11. Gain envelope of the 13 usable beams and the equivalent half-power
beamwidth at 2.4 GHz.
degrades the radiation performance due to higher sidelobe
levels [23].
From Fig. 11 and (10) and (11), the extended Butler matrix
system has an equivalent half-power beamwidth of 118°, or a
spatial coverage from −59° to 59°. The gain varies from 7
to 10 dBi accordingly. Also, the gain ripple (G) is defined
as a measure of the flatness of the spatial gain response.
G is the difference between the local peak value of two
adjacent beams (#k −1, #k) and the intersection point of those
corresponding beams (see Fig. 11). Benefiting from the new
scheme, the ripple level is significantly reduced from a typical
value of 4 dB in a standard Butler matrix to as low as 0.9 dB in
the proposed design. This suggests a relatively constant high
gain within a wide spatial range.
The extended 4×4 Butler matrix can be used in two different
ways. First, the proposed design is a low-complexity beam-
switching solution, capable of providing four different beam
sets each associated with four beam directions. The selection
of beams is boosted from 4 to 16 without sacrificing the
simplicity of the feed structure. For each beam set, the selected
main beam is allocated at nulls of the others, just similar to that
of a standard 4 × 4 Butler matrix. Or alternatively, the beam
sets of the extended Butler matrix can be utilized as a whole.
Benefitting from the small gain ripple, the proposed system
can be equivalent to a high gain antenna whose peak gain
reaches up to 10 dBi but the half-power beamwidth is as wide
as 118°. The property of simultaneously high gain and wide
spatial coverage is not feasible by a single antenna element.
The frequency dependence of the radiation patterns was also
investigated. Fig. 12 illustrates the selected results when port 4
of beam Set B (beam #5) and port 1 of beam Set D (beam #12)
were excited in turn. The frequency is increased from 2.3 to
2.5 GHz with a 0.1-GHz step. Other than a slightly tilted main
beam and somewhat higher sidelobe level, the performance
remains the same. In fact, the operating bandwidth of the
proposed system is limited by the narrowband operation of
the conventional 4 × 4 Butler matrix using quadrature hybrids,
rather than the bandwidth of the PSLines. This argument can
be backed up by observing the frequency response of the array
system with or without PSLines—the trends of the output
progressive phase shifts are almost the same. The results are
trivial and not shown here for simplicity.
 CHU AND MA: EXTENDED 4 × 4 BUTLER MATRIX
TABLE VIII
P ERFORMANCE S UMMARY OF THE S TATE - OF - THE -A RT B UTLER M ATRIX
Fig. 12. Frequency dependence of the measured radiation patterns when
port 4 of beam Set B (beam #5) and port 1 of beam Set D (beam #12) were
excited in turn.
Table VIII compares the newly developed Butler matrix
with the state-of-the-art 4 × 4 and 8 × 8 Butler matrices.
Table VIII was summarized as fair as possible even if the
functionalities of the proposed design are actually different
from its traditional counterparts. Clearly from Table VIII,
by embedding PRSTLs into a standard 4 × 4 Butler matrix,
the spatial coverage, as well as agility in beam direction
controllability, has been dramatically improved. The equiv-
alent half-power beamwidth is the widest and reaches up
to 118°. Note that the corresponding equivalent beamwidths
in [8], [16], and [17] were estimated from the normalized
patterns, where the effects of element patterns were not taken
into account. This suggests that their actual spatial coverage
is narrower than the data shown in Table VIII. In addition to
the wide coverage, the new design features a very flat gain
response within the equivalent beamwidth. The gain ripple
is smaller than 0.9 dB, while that of a conventional one is
typically around 4 dB. The average loss of the feed network,
approximately
read as 1.7 dB, is also respectable when compared with that
of the other designs. The advantages of the extended Butler
matrix have been clearly highlighted.
Finally, the extended Butler matrix system was tested for
power handling. Since the passive part (i.e., the standard 4 × 4
Butler matrix) is insensitive to input power and given the fact
that the available power source in our laboratory is limited
to 30 dBm, only the PSLines were experimentally tested.
Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1309
Fig. 13. Measured magnitude of the transmission coefficients of the PSLines
and the progressive phase shifts between PSLines and input power at 2.4 GHz
when beam Set B is selected.
imformal vocabulary
Since the injected power at the system input is evenly divided
into four parts at the output ports, the real power handling
capability of the entire system, including the passive part as
well as the PSLines, is presumably 6 dB higher than the results
presented in the following discussion.
Fig. 13 shows the magnitude of the transmission coefficients
of the PSLines and the progressive phase shifts between
PSLines and the input power. The data were recorded at
2.4 GHz. The port definition can be referred to in Table III.
Here, the beam Set B was selected as the operational mode
since it has the poorest power handling capability due to the
presence of large capacitances in the PRSTLs. The input power
is increased from 0 to 30 dBm. As shown in Fig. 13, the perfor-
mance starts to degrade at an input power of 20 dBm. Similar
to the stand-alone PRSTL in Section III-C, the insertion loss
is increased, and the amount of phase shift becomes larger at
the same time (see Fig. 5). Nevertheless, referring to the lower
part of Fig. 13, as the increasing trends of phase responses
of all PSLines are similar, the progressive phase shifts
between adjacent outputs are still close to the theoretical value
 1310 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 66, NO. 3, MARCH 2018
(i.e., +45° in Set B), even if the input power has become larger
than P10 °. Accordingly, the power handling of the PSLines
embedded in the Butler matrix system is predominated by
P1 dB , rather than P10 ° as their stand-alone counterparts. From
Fig. 13, the output P1 dB is read as 23.5 dBm, at which the
maximum error in progressive phase shift is less than 7.3°;
the amplitude imbalance is less than 1 dB. Inferring from this
experimental data, it is concluded that the output P1 dB of the
entire extended Butler matrix can reach up to 29.5 dBm. It is
equivalent to a maximum input power of 31.2 dBm by taking
into account the 1.7-dB transmission loss of the feed network.
V. C ONCLUSION
A low-complexity beam-switching array with enhanced
beam controllability and widened spatial coverage has been
successfully demonstrated by utilizing a simple standard 4 × 4
Butler matrix along with PRSTLs. Each of the newly devel-
oped PRSTL functions identically to a 1-bit phase shifter
with good impedance matching in both states. By integrat-
ing two PRSTLs into each of the outputs of a standard
4 × 4 Butler matrix, an extended version, capable of pro-
viding four unique beam sets and up to 16 main beams,
has been developed, fabricated, and experimentally validated.
The average transmission loss of the array feed network with
PRSTLs embedded is comparable to that of existing solutions.
The radiation characteristics reveal that the proposed design
shows an equivalent half-power beamwidth covering two-
thirds of the hemisphere, with the peak gain varying from
7 to 10 dBi and gain ripple less than 0.9 dB. It fulfills
the stringent requirements of wide equivalent beamwidth,
high gain, and low gain ripple at the same time. Moreover,
the output 1-dB compression point reaches to 29.5 dBm, and
the dc power consumption is very low in all switching states.
The PRSTL has been proved to be a strong alternative to
commercial phase shifters with lower transmission loss, lower
realization cost, but comparable power handling capability.
Its further applications to array feed networks will be an
interesting topic worthy of future study.
R EFERENCES
[1] J. Blass, “Multidirectional antenna—A new approach to stacked beams,”
in Proc. IRE Nat. Conv. Rec., 1958, pp. 48–50.
[2] S. Mosca, F. Bilotti, A. Toscano, and L. Vegni, “A novel design
method for Blass matrix beam-forming networks,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propag., vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 225–232, Feb. 2002.
[3] P. Chen, W. Hong, Z. Kuai, and J. Xu, “A double layer substrate
integrated waveguide blass matrix for beamforming applications,” IEEE
Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 374–376, Jun. 2009.
[4] J. Nolen, “Synthesis of multiple beam networks for arbitrary illumina-
tions,” Ph.D. dissertation, The Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD,
USA, 1965.
[5] N. J. G. Fonseca, “Printed S-band 4 × 4 Nolen matrix for multiple
beam antenna applications,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 57,
no. 6, pp. 1673–1678, Jun. 2009.
[6] T. Djerafi, N. J. G. Fonseca, and K. Wu, “Broadband substrate integrated
waveguide 4 × 4 Nolen matrix based on coupler delay compensation,”
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 59, no. 7, pp. 1740–1745,
Jul. 2011.
[7] J. Butler and R. Lowe, “Beam forming matrix simplifies design of
electronically scanned antennas,” Electron. Des., vol. 9, pp. 170–173,
Apr. 1961.
Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
[8] C.-W. Wang, T.-G. Ma, and C.-F. Yang, “A new planar artificial
transmission line and its applications to a miniaturized butler matrix,”
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 55, no. 12, pp. 2792–2801,
Dec. 2007.
[9] T.-H. Lin, S.-K. Hsu, and T.-L. Wu, “Bandwidth enhancement
of 4 × 4 Butler matrix using broadband forward-wave directional
coupler and phase difference compensation,” IEEE Trans. Microw.
Theory Techn., vol. 61, no. 12, pp. 4099–4109, Dec. 2013.
[10] S. Karamzadeh, V. Rafii, M. Kartal, and B. S. Virdee, “Compact and
broadband 4 × 4 SIW Butler matrix with phase and magnitude error
reduction,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 25, no. 12,
pp. 772–774, Dec. 2015.
[11] Y.-S. Lin and J.-H. Lee, “Miniature Butler matrix design using glass-
based thin-film integrated passive device technology for 2.5-GHz
applications,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 61, no. 7,
pp. 2594–2602, Jul. 2013.
[12] M. Elkhouly, Y. Mao, C. Meliani, J. C. Scheytt, and F. Ellinger,
“A G-band four-element butler matrix in 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS
technology,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 49, no. 9, pp. 1916–1926,
Sep. 2014.
[13] Q.-L. Yang, Y.-L. Ban, J.-W. Lian, Z.-F. Yu, and B. Wu, “SIW Butler
matrix with modified hybrid coupler for slot antenna array,” IEEE
Access, vol. 4, pp. 9561–9569, 2016.
[14] K. Ding, F. He, X. Ying, and J. Guan, “A compact 8 × 8 Butler matrix
based on double-layer structure,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Microw.
Antenna Propag. EMC Techn., Oct. 2013, pp. 650–653.
[15] G. Tudosie, R. Vahldieck, and A. Lu, “A novel modularized folded
highly compact LTCC Butler matrix,” in IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp.
Dig., Jun. 2008, pp. 691–694.
[16] T.-Y. Chin, J.-C. Wu, S.-F. Chang, and C.-C. Chang, “A V-band
8 × 8 CMOS Butler matrix MMIC,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory
Techn., vol. 58, no. 12, pp. 3538–3546, Dec. 2010.
[17] B. Cetinoneri, Y. A. Atesal, and G. M. Rebeiz, “An 8 × 8 But-
ler matrix in 0.13-μm CMOS for 5–6-GHz multibeam applications,”
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 295–301,
Feb. 2011.
[18] B. Palacin, K. Sharshavina, K. Nguyen, and N. Capet, “An 8 × 8 But-
ler matrix for generation of waves carrying orbital angular momen-
tum (OAM),” in Proc. IEEE Eur. Conf. Antennas Propag., Apr. 2014,
pp. 2814–2818.
[19] K. Wincza, S. Gruszczynski, and K. Sachse, “Broadband planar fully
integrated 8 × 8 Butler matrix using coupled-line directional couplers,”
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 59, no. 10, pp. 2441–2446,
Oct. 2011.
[20] C.-H. Chen, X.-P. Zhang, and J. Xu, “Implementation of a low-loss
wide-band flat-topped beam-forming network based on Butler martix,”
in Proc. Asia–Pacific Microw. Conf., 20015, pp. 1–3.
[21] C. C. Chang, R. H. Lee, and T. Y. Shih, “Design of a beam switch-
ing/steering Butler matrix for phased array system,” IEEE Trans. Anten-
nas Propag., vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 367–374, Feb. 2010.
[22] T.-Y. Chin, S.-F. Chang, J.-C. Wu, and C.-C. Chang, “A 25-GHz
compact low-power phased-array receiver with continuous beam steering
in CMOS technology,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 45, no. 11,
pp. 2273–2282, Nov. 2010.
[23] O. Kobayashi, T. Ohira, and H. Ogawa, “A novel Butler matrix based
beam forming network architecture for multiple antenna beam steering,”
in Proc. Int. Symp. Antenna Propag. Jpn., 1996, pp. 161–164.
[24] M. Koubeissi, C. Decroze, T. Monediere, and B. Jecko, “A new method
to design a Butler matrix with broadside beam: Application to a
multibeam antenna,” Microw. Opt. Techn. Lett., vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 35–40,
Jan. 2006.
[25] K. Wincza and S. Gruszczynski, “Broadband integrated 8 × 8 Butler
matrix utilizing quadrature couplers and Schiffman phase shifters for
multibeam antennas with broadside beam,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory
Techn., vol. 64, no. 8, pp. 2596–2604, Aug. 2016.
[26] H. N. Chu and T. G. Ma, “Beamwidth switchable planar microstrip
series-fed slot array using reconfigurable synthesized transmission lines,”
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 7, pp. 3766–3771, Jul. 2017.
[27] H. N. Chu, H. C. Liao, G. Y. Li, and T. G. Ma, “Novel phase reconfig-
urable synthesized transmission line and its application to reconfigurable
hybrid coupler,” presented at the 47th Eur. Microw. Conf., Nuremberg,
Germany, 2017.
[28] H. Kim, A. B. Kozyrev, A. Karbassi, and D. W. V. D. Weide, “Linear
tunable phase shifter using a left-handed transmission line,” IEEE
Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 366–368, May 2005.
 CHU AND MA: EXTENDED 4 × 4 BUTLER MATRIX
[29] C. Damm, M. Schussler, M. Oertel, and R. Jakoby, “Compact tunable
periodically LC loaded microstrip line for phase shifting applications,”
in IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp. Dig., Jun. 2005, pp. 2003–2006.
[30] D. Kuylenstierna, A. Vorobiev, P. Linner, and S. Gevorgian, “Composite
right/left handed transmission line phase shifter using ferroelectric varac-
tors,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 167–169,
Apr. 2006.
[31] P. Li et al., “A novel 360° continuously tunable phase shifter based
on varactor-loaded CRLH transmission line at exact 2.4 GHz,” in
Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Electron. Inf. Commun. Technol., Aug. 2016,
pp. 583–585.
[32] J.-Y. Zou, C.-H. Wu, and T.-G. Ma, “Heterogeneous integrated
beam-switching/retrodirective array using synthesized transmission
lines,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 61, no. 8,
pp. 3128–3139, Aug. 2013.
Huy Nam Chu (S’15) was born in Vinh, Nghe An,
Vietnam, in 1990. He received the B.S. degree in
electrical and electronic engineering from the Hanoi
University of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Viet-
nam, in 2013, and the M.S. degree in electronic and
computer science engineering from the National Tai-
wan University of Science and Technology, Taipei,
Taiwan, in 2015, where he is currently pursuing the
Ph.D. degree at the Electrical Department.
His current research interests include reconfig-
urable circuit components, phased-array antennas,
and millimeter-wave antenna array.
Authorized licensed use limited to: National Taiwan Univ of Science and Technology. Downloaded on November 19,2020 at 15:04:13 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1311
Tzyh-Ghuang Ma (S’00–M’06–SM’11) was born
in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1973. He received the B.S.
and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering and Ph.D.
degree in communication engineering from National
Taiwan University, Taipei, in 1995, 1997, and 2005,
respectively.
In 2005, he joined the faculty with the Department
of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan Univer-
sity of Science and Technology, Taipei, where he is
currently a Full Professor and the Vice Chairman
with the department. From 2015 to 2016, he was a
Visiting Scholar with the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. His
current research interests include innovative phased arrays, active antennas,
millimeter-wave antenna arrays, and miniaturized microwave circuit designs.
Dr. Ma was a recipient of the Best Paper Awards of the International
Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT), Chiba, Japan, and Hong Kong,
in 2008 and 2011, and the Dr. Wu Da-Yu Award, the most outstanding
research award for young researchers from the National Science Council,
Taiwan, in 2010; the Excellent Young Engineer Award and Outstanding
Electrical Engineering Professor Award from the Chinese Institute of Elec-
trical Engineering, in 2012 and 2017, respectively; the Title of Distinguished
Professor from the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
in 2012; the Outstanding Associate Editor Award from IEEE A NTENNAS AND
W IRELESS P ROPAGATION L ETTERS in 2017, and a certificate from the IEEE
T RANSACTIONS ON A NTENNAS AND P ROPAGATION for his exceptional
performance as an Article Reviewer from 2009 to 2010. He was the Advisor
of the Honorable Mention Winner of the Student Paper Competition of the
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium in 2011. He was the Leading
Author of an IEEE–Wiley book published in 2017. He is an Associate Editor
of the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON M ICROWAVE T HEORY AND T ECHNIQUES
and IEEE A NTENNAS AND W IRELESS P ROPAGATION L ETTERS .