Phased array antenna with controllable amplifier bias adjustment and related methods

A phased array antenna comprising:

• a substrate and a plurality of phased array antenna elements carried thereby;
• and
• an element control module for at least one of said phased array antenna elements and comprising
• an amplifier coupled to said at least one phased array antenna element and having a controllable bias,
• a resistor network coupled to said amplifier, and
• a control circuit for controlling the controllable bias of said amplifier via said resistor network by outputting digital bias adjust signals to said resistor network to selectively switch the controllable bias over a range of operating bias levels based upon at least one output characteristic of said amplifier.

An element control module for a phased array antenna element of a phased array antenna comprising:

• an amplifier to be coupled to the phased array antenna element and having a controllable bias;
• a controllable device coupled to said amplifier and having at least one of a controllable phase, delay, and attenuation;
• and
• a control application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for controlling at least one of the controllable phase, delay, and attenuation of said controllable device, and said control ASIC also for controlling the controllable bias of said amplifier by selectively switching the controllable bias over a range of operating bias levels based upon at least one output characteristic of said amplifier.

An element control module for a phased array antenna element of a phased array antenna comprising:

• an amplifier to be coupled to the phased array antenna element and having a controllable bias;
• a resistor network coupled to said amplifier;
• and
• a control circuit for controlling the controllable bias of said amplifier via said resistor network by outputting digital bias adjust signals to said resistor network to selectively switch the controllable bias over a range of operating bias levels based upon at least one output characteristic of said amplifier.