The design, development and testing of the THAAD (Theater High Altitude Area Defense) solid state phased array (formerly ground based radar)

Sarcione, M.; Mulcahey, J.K.; Schmidt, Dirk; Chang, K. K. N.; Russell, Mark; Enzmann, Robert Duncan; Rawlinson, P E; Guzak, W.; Howard, Richard M.; Mitchell, M. J.

doi:10.1109/past.1996.566096

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, due to the mechanical movement of the probe antenna, the measurement process is very timeconsuming, especially for large-scale phased array antennas. For example, for the THAAD (Theater High Altitude Area Defense) radar, each of the 25,344 T/R modules had to be near-field scanned individually, result in a very long and even unacceptable test time [48,49]. Therefore, the near-field scanning probe method is most suitable for initial factory test rather than periodic in-field calibration.…”

Section: A the Near-field Scanning Probe Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These calibration methods vary from different systems and applications, either suitable for factory test or for in-field test [41]. Some methods such as the near-field scanning probe method and the peripheral fixed probe method require additional equipments [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60], while the mutual coupling method takes advantage of the inherent property of the phased array without the need for extra hardware [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71]. For Si-based integrated phased array antenna, it's very common to design a dedicated coupling network that using transmission lines connected to each antenna element for periodic in-field calibration [72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact Analysis and Calibration Methods of Excitation Errors for Phased Array Antennas

Gao

Zhang

2021

IEEE Access

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Phased array antennas have played a very important role in many different areas and applications. It requires precise excitation of each antenna element by various synthesis techniques to obtain desired array pattern features. However, due to reasons such as manufacturing imperfections, component aging, and temperature variation, the realistic antenna element excitation inevitably differs from their expected values in practice. This paper presents a tutorial-like review to deal with excitation errors for phased array antennas. Two kinds of analysis methods, probabilistic methods and interval arithmetic (IA) based methods, are presented to evaluate the effects of excitation errors for phased array antennas. State-ofthe-art calibration methods along with various signal processing techniques are reviewed, their advantages and challenges are discussed in a comparative manner. Some other common errors and open research directions are also presented.INDEX TERMS Phased array antenna, excitation error, interval arithmetic, array calibration.

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Section: A the Near-field Scanning Probe Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact Analysis and Calibration Methods of Excitation Errors for Phased Array Antennas

Gao

Zhang

2021

IEEE Access

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“…The objective of a phased array antenna calibration is to sample each antenna element in the array, and compare the obtained results to identify the differences in excitation among the elements. Phased array calibration can be classified in two main types, initial and in-situ [7], [8]. As the name suggests, initial calibration is the first alignment check performed on the phased array system, whereas, insitu calibration refers to the one performed on the operation location.…”

Section: While the Conventional Methods In An Anechoic Chambermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, there are other mutual coupling-based techniques, developed specifically for in-situ applications, which rely on the results obtained by initial calibration. Examples of this are [7], [18], [22], [23], which employ embedded elements that monitor the current state of the array, and compare the results with the ones initially obtained; any difference between current and initial states is considered a misalignment.…”

Section: While the Conventional Methods In An Anechoic Chambermentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation and Testing of Initial and In-Situ Mutual Coupling-Based Calibration of a Dual-Polarized Active Phased Array Antenna

et al. 2020

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This paper presents experimental results of an initial and in-situ mutual coupling calibration techniques of an active phased array antenna. The antenna is a dual-polarized 64-element C-band subarray panel equipped with an RF beamformer that enables mutual coupling measurements. Both techniques were implemented, tested and validated using a custom anechoic chamber and a radar backend. The implementation of a radar backend enables the in-situ validation of both methods. A conventional near-field calibration procedure, also known as park and probe, was used as a reference, in order to validate the proposed method. To quantify the calibration effectiveness of the mutual coupling-based techniques, the results are translated into phase and amplitude errors. It is found that the amplitude estimation of the tested initial technique is affected by edge effects, resulting in errors larger than 1 dB, whereas the phase estimation is less sensitive, yielding an overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.5 •. In contrast, the proposed in-situ technique is not affected by edge effects, and its estimation RMSE is less than 0.12 dB in amplitude and less than 0.75 • in phase. Mutual coupling-based calibration techniques are demonstrated to be very versatile, as they provide calibration methods for environments outside an anechoic chamber, and they also enable immediate feedback on the health of the system. INDEX TERMS Active phased array, calibration, component failure, mutual coupling, park and probe.

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“…ere has been great work on calibrating phased arrays. A usual calibration method utilized in anechoic chambers is the near-eld scanning probe method [17,18], with which each channel is switched on and scatter parameters are measured when the probe scans exactly above the antenna element. is demands complex devices and accurate position systems and only applies to in-factory calibration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Improved Power-Only Measurement Strategy for Calibrating Phased Array Antennas

Zhang

et al. 2022

International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

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An improved power-only measurement method is proposed to calibrate phased arrays, which is aimed at solving two remaining problems: little contribution of one antenna element’s phase shifting to the whole array’s power and the ambiguity of solutions. The method includes four steps. Firstly, the random distributed phase of each element is adjusted to guarantee that it is −90° to +90° relative to the reference element. Secondly, the proper number of the elements shifting their phases together is approximately determined. Then, an invertible matrix is formed from the standard Hadamard matrix to split the array into different groups, which applies to an arbitrary number of elements; Finally, the array gets calibrated with an existing method. Numerical simulations and experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

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The design, development and testing of the THAAD (Theater High Altitude Area Defense) solid state phased array (formerly ground based radar)

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Impact Analysis and Calibration Methods of Excitation Errors for Phased Array Antennas

Impact Analysis and Calibration Methods of Excitation Errors for Phased Array Antennas

Validation and Testing of Initial and In-Situ Mutual Coupling-Based Calibration of a Dual-Polarized Active Phased Array Antenna

An Improved Power-Only Measurement Strategy for Calibrating Phased Array Antennas

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