Shared Apeture Concepts For Point to Point Communications.

The purpose of the antenna array is to serve radar, electronic support measure and electronics, electronic warfare and communications functions. Implicit in the multisystem function array is the need to operate many of these systems simultaneously. Additionally the array should be capable of controlling fundamental radiation characteristics such as beamwidth, beam size, sidelobe levels and radiated power, in order to realize the different antenna characteristics required by the various systems. It is also intended to have a self healing capability to retain a degree of usefulness in the event of battle damage or component failures. In order to achieve the above objectives Princeton Microwave Technology Inc. proposes to explore an active array during Phase 1 of the SBIR. The array aperture consists of a large number of radiating elements that are spaced approximately half a wave-length at the upper end of the operational frequency band. The frequency response and excitation of each element in the aperture can be independently controlled. This enables the antenna to reconfigure around damaged areas or to vary the array illumination. The aperture can be fully utilized at the lowest frequency or can be shared among functions operating at higher frequencies.