Compact Radar Antenna

The Navy is interested in developing a compact, highly efficient antenna at W-Band frequencies (95GHz) for non-lethal counter-personnel Active Denial Technologies (ADT) missions. These requirements can be met using a set of MEMS based reconfigurable patch reflectarray using the Team"s pixel-addressable reconfigurable conformal antenna (PARCA) Software-Defined An-tenna technology. Pixelated microstrip circuits are controlled using a digital interface to a computer. The MEMS patches move up or down and can dynamically create patterns resulting in a reconfigurable reflectarray where the associated reflected beam is controlled in direction and gain. A reflectarray will be developed using our PARCA technology. A classical reflectarray design uses printed metallic elements that reflect the feed"s electromagnetic wave in a manner that forms a narrow beam at a chosen direction. The geometry and layout of the printed patches control the direction and gain of the associated beam. The drawback of traditional reflectarrays are their fixed configuration and inability to steer the beam or change the gain of the beam using printed patches. A PARCA implemented reflectarray will be able to reconfigure the array to steer the beam and adjust gain.