Jeremiah D. Wolf

Fabrication and measurement of a large, monolithic, PCB-based AESA

This paper discusses a fabrication approach and experimental validation of a very large, planar active electronically scanned array (AESA). The planar AESA architecture employs a monolithic printed circuit board (PCB) with 768 active antenna elements at X-Band. Manufacturing physically large arrays with high element counts is discussed in relation to construction, assembly and yield considerations. Measured active array patterns of the ESA are also presented.

Charateristics of decade-bandwidth, Balanced Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna (BAVA) phased arrays with time-delay beamformer systems

The first part of this paper presents measured performance of the Balanced Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna (BAVA) with U-shaped metallic channels. This new BAVA array is dual polarized with decade bandwidth and wide scan volume. Its depth is half-wavelength at the highest frequency of operation. It can be constructed as modular individual BAVA elements or as a subarray with integrated transmitter / receiver (T/R) modules. This is a unique feature that reduces manufacturing complexity and the cost of field repair. The second part of this paper overviews performance of the BAVA array scanned at wide scan angles using AFRLs Transformational Element Level Array (TELA) Time-Delay Units between 2 GHz to 8 GHz and using fixed delay lines between 2 GHz to 18 GHz. The authors offer guidelines for minimum aperture size to realize decade bandwidth beam scan performance without beam squinting at the lower end of the frequency band.

Limitations of AESA's on monopulse beamforming

This paper discusses the limitations of controlling sidelobes with Monopulse Beamforming Networks in Active Electronically Scanned Antenna Arrays (AESAs). Uniform, Taylor, split Taylor and Bayliss amplitude weightings are presented from a system level perspective, when balancing the need for sidelobe control versus Size, Weight, Power and Cost (SWAP-C).