Application of Ferroelectrics in Low-Cost Microwave Phased-Array Antennas
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Application of Ferroelectrics in Low-Cost Microwave Phased-Array Antennas J. B. L. Rao1, D. P. Patel1, P. K. Park2, T. K. Dougherty3, J. A. Zelik3, D. S. Prior3, A. Moffat4, and L. C. Sengupta5 1 Naval Research Laboratory, Radar Division, Washington, DC, U.S.A. 2 Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A. 3 Raytheon Electronic Systems, El Segundo, CA, U.S.A. 4 SFA, Inc., Largo, MD, U.S.A. 5 Paratek Microwave, Inc., Columbia, MD, U.S.A. ABSTRACT A novel, low-cost, phased-array antenna that uniquely incorporates bulk phase shifting using voltage-tunable dielectric (VTD) material is presented. The array does not contain an individual phase shifter at each radiating element. This paper presents the antenna concept and describes how it can be used as a low-cost phased array. The VTDs that are used in this antenna are described. The measured antenna patterns of a prototype phased array demonstrating electronic beam scanning at 10 GHz are also presented.
INTRODUCTION A phased-array antenna can rapidly scan its beam without mechanical movement. Each radiating element of a phased array is usually connected to a phase shifter or a transmit/receive (T/R) module, which determines the phase of the signal at each element to form a beam at the desired angle. The most commonly used phase shifters are the ferrite and diode varieties. The phase shifters or T/R modules with their control circuitry along with the array feed network account for the major hardware cost in a phased-array antenna. A typical array may have several thousand elements and that many phase shifters or T/R modules; hence, it is very expensive. Therefore, reducing the cost and complexity of the phase shifters or T/R modules and their control circuitry is an important consideration in the design of phased arrays. The concept of the novel antenna described in this paper has been published elsewhere [1]. We call it the ferroelectric lens phased-array antenna. It uniquely incorporates bulk phase shifting using voltage-tunable dielectrics (VTDs); the array does not contain an individual phase shifter at each element. The number of phase shifters are reduced from (n × m) to (n + m), where n is the number of columns and m is the number of rows in a phased array. The number of phase shifter drivers and phase shifter controls is also reduced by the same factor using row-column phase control. This can potentially lead to low-cost phased-array antennas. An ideal application for the ferroelectric lens is a semiactive tactical missile seeker [2]. Rapid beam switching can advance missile seeker capability including forward looking guidanceintegrated fusing and tracking in shorter range. In this paper, we review the ferroelectric lens concept. We describe the bulk VTD ceramics that we used. We present experimental results of a small column of the lens at X band (8-12.5 H5.2.1 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Texas Libraries, on 05 Jan 2020 at 16:05:04, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. h
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