Wafer-Scale Antenna (WSA) Tile with Integrated Transmission Amplifier for Electronically Scanned Antennas (ESAs) (9715)

Hittite proposes to develop a WSA tile with which to build non-rotational antennas for use with the Instrument Carrier Landing System (ICLS). A 15.5-GHz, WSA tile with integrated beam forming and transmission amplifiers offers dramatically lower size, weight, power and cost relative to conventional phased-array antennas. The 196-element, 15.5-GHz ¡Ó 5% tile contains all of the transmit and beam forming functions on a single, 8¡¨ (200 mm) silicon wafer. The tile includes distribution (or corporate feed) networks to connect each of the 196 element sites to a single input. The WSA tile will enable ICLSs with impressive performance. The WSA tiles will butt seamlessly (i.e., no missing elements at tilt-to-tile interfaces) to form electronically-steered antennas (ESAs) with integrated transmission amplifiers. The ESA will be capable of transmitting wide bandwidth (e.g., 15 ¡V 16 GHz), coded-waveform signals over scan angles greater than „b 20„a and scan rates exceeding 5 Hz while dynamically compensating for pitch, yaw, and roll. Beam widths and scan patterns will be fully programmable enhancing the capability of future ICLS systems. Both the azimuth antenna and the elevation antenna will be realized as flat, nonrotating panels realized with the same kind of WSA tiles. The Phase I effort will provide the conceptual circuit and assembly design for the WSA tiles. Proof of concept for the WSA tile will be demonstrated during the Phase II effort. This Phase II effort will lead to full-scale WSA and antenna development in Phase III. We anticipate that the final AZ and EL antennas will support fleet ICLSs beyond the year 2040. BENEFITS: The WSA tile promises at least an order of magnitude reduction in size, weight, power, and cost compared to traditional technology. The technology enables low-cost, low SWaP, non-rotational antennas for ICLS as well as providing a foundation for radar and data communications antennas. At 77 GHz, the technology can provide low-cost, anti-collision radar for automotive vehicles.