Analysis and Development of a K-Band GaAs MMIC Voltage Controlled Reflection Amplifier Suitable for Active Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

This paper describes an IC module composed of a voltage controlled reflection amplifier cascaded to a bidirectional phase shifter, suitable to implement active reconfigurable intelligent surfaces operating in 5G NR FR2 K-band. It describes the design methodology and provides the experimental validation, by a set of prototypes developed in a MMIC GaAs p-HEMT technology. The experimental results show that the reflection amplifier is capable to control both the reflection gain and the corresponding operating frequency, respectively in the ranges 8 dB to 12 dB and 25.5 GHz to 26.1 GHz, with a reflection phase covering continuously 180 degree; the prototype exhibits a maximum DC power consumption of 76 mW.