At the initial design of our beamformers, the system engineering and IC design engineering were working in tandem to provide an optimum design. The layout of the beamformer is critical to the layout of the antenna tile where optimum routing is required. Manufacturability was also a consideration since these are high volume applications, this is why we decicded to go with a 1x4 splitter in MMIC form. In addition, it is important to marry the BFIC specifications with the overall antenna requirements to gain confidence in the total solution from the antenna to the beam
