Low Cost, High Efficiency VICTS Multi-Beam Transmit Array

US Navy seeks high gain, high power multi-beam transmit antennas to support shipboard sensor, communication and EW functions, frequently simultaneously, anywhere in the hemisphere surrounding a ship. Modern ship antennas must also be low radar cross-section. To support these various functions, multi-beam transmit antennas need to support operation over a broad range of frequencies at least from L to Ku band, but growing to include Ka, Q and V bands (i.e. 1-18 GHz and growing to 50 GHz). Under this SBIR topic, ThinKom proposes a Low Cost, High Efficiency VICTS-based Multi-Beam Transmit Array architecture that takes advantage of the many ThinKom ground and air vehicle SATCOM COTM antenna products, plus the many advantages VICTS has demonstrated relative to conventional Electronically Steered Phased Arrays or ESAs. In Phase I ThinKom will continue investigations into multi-beam VICTS solutions for EW & SATCOM, low RCS VICTS applications, and other functional uses of VICTS, then initiate preliminary design of a representative transmit VICTS to evaluate RF performance and power handling. In Phase II, ThinKom will complete design, then build and test a transmit VICTS to demonstrate high EIRP and power handling over an extended range of scan angles and frequencies.