T HE ACTIVE (or solid state) phased array [also referred to as active electronically scanned arrays (AESAs)] is currently the work horse for the majority of sensors for high-end RF systems. The evolution of RF packaging/device technologies and architectures continues to mold their capabilities and affordability for the user communities. The U.S. Government is by far the largest sponsor and user, especially the Department of Defense (DoD); however, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Commerce (DoC), the Department of Transportation (DoT), and the commercial wireless industry also recognize their utility beyond traditional defense missions. Opportunities to integrate weather and air-traffic surveillance into a single radar and provide increased channel capacity via multiple beams for wireless communications are all enabled by phased arrays.Looking at the evolution of phased arrays from the early 1970s to today, we see a dramatic increase in capability enabled by key technology developments in microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs), packaging, and interconnects. The early focus was at the HF to UHF frequency bands, but today, designs are prolific from -through -band and extend into the millimeter band thanks to the advances in GaAs, silicon, and mixed-signal devices to the microwave and millimeter-wave bands. These developments enable architectures that provide cost/performance trades with scalability and modularity that are now more easily integrated into a wider variety of platforms and applications.The production of AESAs for many military applications and some high-end commercial applications (e.g., Iridium) began in earnest in the early 1990s. Packaging of the microwave electronic circuitry in most cases required hermetically sealed modules and together with the corresponding interconnects, thermal control, etc. dictated the weight and volume of the AESAs. Today's AESAs have evolved to lighter, denser packages, some with hermetic packages and some exploiting alternative environmental protection technologies. This evolution along with technology improvements in MMICs, interconnects, thermal control, etc. have realized 50% savings in both weight and cost.There are many challenges driving the development of the next generation of radar, communications, and electronic warfare phased arrays. The ground-and surface-based applications must meet a broad range of requirements, from simple low-power radars for weather, surveillance, and communications to high-power radars for ship and missile defense. The airborne applications are additionally challenged by the weight, volume, and sometimes the radar cross section (e.g., low RCS for stealth) constraints of the platform. A common challenge across all of the applications, however, is affordability, thus they have traditionally been limited to systems and platforms where the benefits could justify their higher price tag. The maturation of RF panel AESA technology is now beginning to change the cost-benefit paradigm.The industry began investing...
The next generation of active electronically scanned arrays (AESAs) is dependent upon many technology and application pulls and the pushes. RF and manufacturing technologies are key elements of achieving more affordable phased arrays in support of both military and commercial applications. Advanced, evolving, mature and even revolutionary device, material and packaging technologies are making significant strides for lowering the cost of phased arrays. To date, phased array usage has been limited to high end military and commercial applications. That's about to change with the evolution of more affordable AESA architectures that take advantage of RF microelectronics, surface mount RF packaging and new architectures focused on reducing the high cost drivers. New Panel AESA approaches promise a savings of more than 50% since the initial nearly 20 years ago. Index Terms -RF, phased arrays, AESA, AESLA TM, GaN, SiGe, packaging, wide frequency bandwidths, MMICs. I. THE NEXT GENERATION OF ACTIVE ELECTRONICALLY SCANNED ARRAYS (AESAs) The pull and the push of RF and manufacturing technologies are key elements of achieving more affordable phased arrays in support of both military and commercial applications. RF technology is one of the work horses, but not the only cost driver of a phased array. Active Electronically Scanned Phased Arrays (AESAs) dominate the phased array market and RF technology provides unprecedented capabilities and opportunities. Technology pull comes primarily from the government agencies since they are currently the largest consumers and sponsors of phased arrays. So, what are some of the pulls? We need systems that can observe the world around us, look closer and farther away, find smaller and hidden objects, some that move fast, and others that move slow. What are some of the RF technology pushes that are applicable to these pulls? We're seeing unprecedented high power RF devices, more affordable faster and highly integrated RF electronics, components that support higher frequencies and wider frequency bandwidths, and manmade materials with RF properties not realized previously, just to name a few. There are many challenges driving the development of the next generation of radar, communications and electronic warfare AESAs. The ground and surface based applications must meet a broad range of requirements, from simple low power radars for weather, surveillance, and communications to high power radars for ship and missile defense. The airborne applications are additionally challenged by the 978-1-4244-7732-6/101$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 688 weight, volume and sometimes the radar cross section (e.g. low RCS for stealth) constraints of the platform. A common challenge across all of the applications however is AESA affordability, thus they've traditionally been limited to systems and platforms where the benefits could justify their higher price tag. The maturation of RF Panel AESA technology is now beginning to change the cost-benefit paradigm and we discuss this shortly. The phased array is the work horse sen...
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The benefits and limitations of photonic interconnections in solid state phased arrays are discussed. Direct and indirect modulated links are analyzed with respect to SNR, intermodulation distortion, noise figure, and clutter spreading due to nonlinearities. An advanced radar architecture having a number of fiber optic links is described.
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