THREE-DIMENSIONAL NON-LINEAR PHASED ARRAY CONCEPT FEASIBILITY STUDY

A NEW APPROACH TO PHASED ARRAY ANTENNA DESIGN IS PROPOSED, BASED ON UNPUBLISHED WORK AT EMA, WHICH PREDICTS THE POSSIBILITY OF PRODUCING GIGAWATTS OF EFFECTIVE RADIATED POWER. PRELIMINARY PREDICTIONS BASED ON THE NEW DESIGN CONCEPTS INDICATE AS MUCH AS 80 DB INCREASE IN POWER OVER CONVENTIONAL PHASED ARRAY DESIGNS MAY BE ACHIEVABLE. EMA'S CONCEPTS ALLOW ENERGY TO BE STORED ON THE ANTENNA THROUGH A LOW FREQUENCY SOURCE (AS COMPARED TO THE DESIRED MICROWAVE PROPAGATION FREQUENCY). THE SOURCE IS THEN DISCONNECTED (SWITCHED) TO ALLOW A HIGHLY DIRECTED, HIGH GAIN OUTPUT AT FREQUENCIES AS MUCH AS 100 TIMES THE SOURCE FREQUENCY. EMA WILL DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS CONCEPT DURING THE PHASE I EFFORT.