LOW COST CONFORMAL ELECTRONICALLY SCANNED ANTENNA

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PHASE I EFFORT IS TO DESIGN AN SCANNED ANTENNA SYSTEM WHICH MEETS SPECIFIC ELECTROMAGNETIC, WEIGHT AND POWER CONSUMPTION PERFORMANCE CRITERIA AND IS LOW COST. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WILL CONSIST OF THREE MAIN COMPONENTS, A PIN DIODE BEAM COMMUTATOR, A ROTMAN LENS BEAMFORMING NETWORK, AND A TRAVELLING-WAVE MICROSTRIP ARRAY ANTENNA. THE TWO DIMENSIONAL MICRO-STRIP ARRAY WILL CONSIST OF AN ARRAY OF IDENTICAL, VERTICALLY-ORIENTED TRAVELLING-WAVE ARRAYS. THE ROTMAN LENS WILL BE USED TO APPROPRIATELY PHASE THE INPUTS TO EACH TRAVELLING-WAVE ARRAY, THUS SCANNING THE BEAM IN AZIMUTH. THE PIN DIODE BEAM COMMUTATOR WILL EXCITE THE APPROPRIATE ROTMAN LENS INPUT PORT, THUS ELECTRONICALLY STEERING THE BEAM. THE MODULAR SYSTEM STRUCTURE GIVES RISE TO COST ADVANTAGES, BUT THE PRINCIPAL COST ADVANTAGE RESULTS FROM THE SIMPLICITY OF THE CONTROL CIRCUITRY NEEDED TO SCAN THE BEAM.