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This article introduces a new over-the-air calibration method for millimeter wave phased arrays. Our method leverages the channel estimation process which is a fundamental part of any wireless communication system. By performing the channel estimation while changing the phase of an antenna element, the response of the element is obtained. Unlike prior work, our method includes all the system components and thus, spans the full chain. By overriding channel estimation, no additional circuits are required, and online calibration is possible without pausing the communication process. We tested our method on an eight-element-phased array at 24GHz which we designed and fabricated in PCB for verification. 

This paper proposes a new over-the-air (OTA) calibration method for millimeter wave phased arrays. Our method leverages the channel estimation process which is a fundamental part of any wireless communication system. By performing the channel estimation while changing the phase of an antenna element, the phase response of the element can be estimated. The relative phase of the phased array can also be obtained by collecting all the estimated phase responses with a shared reference state. Hence, the phase mismatches of the phased array can be resolved. Unlike prior work, our calibration method embraces all the array components such as power-divider, phase shifter, amplifier and antenna and thus, spans the full chain. By overriding channel estimation, our proposed technique does not require any additional circuits for calibration. Furthermore, the calibration can be performed online without the need to pause the communication. We tested our method on an eight element phased array at 24GHz which we designed and fabricated in PCB for verification. The measured beam patterns prove the viability of our proposed method.