MONOLITHIC SCANNING ANTENNA

A NOVEL APPROACH TO LOW COST SHAPED BEAM SCANNING FOR MONOLITHIC STRUCTURES IS PROPOSED. THE TECHNIQUE MAKE USE OF RADOME MATERIAL COSTING OF THE CONVENTIONAL MONOLITHIC STRUCTURE; THE RADOME ITSELF IS COMPOSED OF A COMPOSITE OF HIGH DIELECTRIC CONSTANT/MAGNETICALLY SENSITIVE MATERIAL-REFERED TO AS "DIELECTROMAGNETIC" (DEM) MATERIAL. THE DEM MATERIAL CHARACTERISTICS ARE DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A SHAPED BEAM WHICH CAN BE SCANNED IN AZIMUTH OR ELEVATION BY THE APPLICATION OF ORTHOGONAL MAGNETIC FIELDS. THE USEFULNESS OF THE APPROACH IS THAT: (1) WIDE ANGLE SCANNING BEYOND THE NULLS OF THE MONOLITHIC ELEMENTS CAN BE ACHIEVED, THUS IMPROVING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE; (2) THE OVERALL COST OF REPLACING THE SCANNED BEAM ANTENNA CAN BE DRAMATICALLY REDUCED BY REPLACING THE INDIVIDUAL PHASE SHIFTERS FOR EACH ELEMENT OF THE ARRAY WITH AN ELECTRICALLY SCANNED DEM COVER; (3) THE RADAR CROSS SECTION IS REDUCED USING LOW OBSERVABLE MATERIAL IN THE DEM COMPOSITE; (4) THE OVERALL SIZE OF THE MONOLITHIC ANTENNA IS REDUCED DUE TO THE REFRACTIVE INDEX OF THE DEM MATERIAL.