Technology trends for future low cost phased arrays

Abstract

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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