Lightweight Electronically Steerable Antennas

Performance benefits to systems employing an Electrically Steerable Antenna (ESA) are numerous. Included are rapid beam scanning, beam agility, and the performance of multiple functions such as surveillance and target tracking. These gains are obtained at the expense of large increases in system cost and weight. For many space and aerostat applications, the classical ESA architecture of one T/R module per radiating element is too heavy. Radant Technologies has developed a novel approach to beam steering that will likely meet the requirements of lightweight applications. The Radant Lens achieves these requirements by eliminating costly and weighty features (discrete phase shifters, all packaging, interconnecting transmission lines, and connectors associated with each element, and reduction of control circuitry from N2 to 2N) of the classical ESA architecture. This Phase I study will develop new Radant Lens based ESA designs that will achieve very large savings in weight, in comparison to the classical ESA. The first objective will reduce the weight of the Radant Lens by 50% while maintaining electrical and mechanical performance. Lightweight feeding options for the Radant Lens will also be examined. Finally, experiments will be defined for a potential Phase II study that will verify Phase I performance predictions.