A Low-Profile Broadband Phased Array Antenna

Ben llmik'. Rohert Taylor, Tiin D u r l ~ a m ' ~William Croswell.

Brett Pigon. Randy Boozer. Stephen Brown, Mark Jones.
Joriothaii Pryor'. Seaii Ortiz. Jim Rawnick, Keith Krebs,
.\lark Vanstrum. Griffin Gothard, and Don W i e b e l t

'The O h i o State University ElectroScience Laboratory,

Dept. of Electrical Engineering

Harris Corporation
PO Box 37. h l e l b o o r n e , FL 32902-0037

1 Introduction
'Trullitioeal broadbarid array design is bnsrd on the concept of designing an element with the
desired bandxidtli i n irolation rid thcn attempting to make it work in the array environ-
~nent..The ihope is that n i u t u d coupling effects will not seriowiy change the performance of
the isolated element. Sometimes this results in improved bandwidth. but in other c a e s the
Iiantlwitith of t i l e r e d t i n g array will bo degraded. A fundamentally different appronch to
tlic desigir o i r ~ ~ l e b n iarrays
al huj been developed in which mutual coupliilg is intentionally
iiifroduced imwm the array elements. Initial work performed with arrays of intentionally
mupied tlipoleh lms resulted iii geometries that are readily analyzed with available codes.
TIE iiigl~ly-ro~ipied cletncm comprising this array create lines of current ncmss the aperture
wliidi h d i i e i . ~ .miiiethiirg
~ wry similar to Whcelcr's original current sheet concept [I]. By
cumliming at1 understairding of the fundamental array physics with computer analysis. a
videband phued array antenna has been developed with the following desirable properties:

.Itnpccluace and pattern bandwidth approaching 1 0 1

*Very low ~irofi!riii cross section
.L;gcred planar rtiucture caaipatihle with conformal applications
Lnrgr grat,iug~lobcfrcc scan volume
.High polarization isoiation (> 30 dB),

2 Broadband Wire Array Concept

This c m m p t has resulted in part f&m the first author's extensive experience in Frequency
Sdective Surface (FSS) design a i d analysis. Ho end his e z s o c l a t ~discovered tliat a clo*ely~
spbced tilted dipole army exhibits B broad bandwidth when employed BS an FSS due t o
the iriiirrent mutual coupling between the overlapping portions of the elements [Z]. This
i d t o the realization that the S R effect~ c m be achieved ill e. more controlled manner
l>y irkroclucing capacitance betwcn' the ends of the dipoles. This is shown schematically
in Figore I ( % ) . In fnct. an WIRY of dlpoles with small inter-element spacings backed by a
groimdplane can he designed to have a bandwidth of around 4:1 with a VSWR of less than
2 1 . Investigations of similar dipole geometries performed a t Harris in the early 1990's had
siiowii that appmxinm~elythe s ~ m ebandwidth c m be obtaieed from finite arrays.

0-7803-7846-61031517.0002003 IEEE 448

MY
3 Optimization and Hardware Implementation
The promise of this cowept spurred a n intensive eHort t o implement t h i s itiridizetl "CIII~
rent shcct array'. in lhilrd~vitreiii order to validate the Ipredicfcd perfurnlance. In ddifio11.
Significant modeiiltg of the :array using c m i i u F r C i i i l 3D eiectronngnefic toois s w h iss HFSS.
IE3D. and \ l i c r ~ S t i i p e rm s carried out i n p i ~ l l e with
l the hardware i ~ ~ ~ 1 ~ l r ~ ) ~ e ~ ~ f ~ 1 i ~ ~ ~ ~ .
The use of these to& eonbled iion~idealizedfactors such finitc element width. capaciior
implementation. and feed details to he indutleti in the performance predicfims [.I]. F~~rthei
optimization hw resulted in designs hauing au operational hmdwidih of 9:l. w i l i c l ~IS erelj
hioader than those originally produced u.ith PSISI.
Figure 3 s h o w two breadhoard prototypes airing with their associated f w d i i e r w l k s .
Both hrcvdhoards are 1 2 x 1 2 in size and are desigucd t u q>eraitioven 2 ~ i RGHa. The 28x28
element hreadhoard ~ h inwFigure ~ 3(a)
~ ihas iG fed elwirnts (4x4 active) at the ctwtur
with the remaining 7G8 eieiirenfs resistively terminated. The 28x28 element ihrr;alhosrd of
Figure 3(h) h w 64 fed rlriiiriits (8x8 active) at t h e centel w i t h the remaining 720 e i c m , m
resistively teriniiiafrd. Both hreadhoards are slio~~ta without the dielectric rnatci,illg 1;iyels
which are located nhow rhe elements. Commercial off-the-shelf c o h p o n e ~ ~were t z uset1 tu
feed the breadboards, resulting i n a total height much p a r e r than the antenna nperi~lre
itself. The totni antcnna height ahove the groundplane is nor?~inaliy,4110 ht the i h end of
the hand, and development of custom components would girstly L C ~ I I C C tlx orerail reqni1t4
height of tho antenna and feed network.

Figure 3: Breadhoard Prototypra of TWOArrays Designed fm 2-18 GHs 0 p e r : i f i ~

450
 ..

iadOmB)m(la.m-,a 0 10 jD I) (0 II M 10 m eo
mot. Id.1r-l

(4
Figure 4: Measured Breadboard Data

5 Conclusion
A fundamentally d i k e n t approach to broadband array design has been introduced and
d i d a t e d with measured data. This design approach relies on mutual coupling t o i n c r e e
array bandwidth as opposed t o the conventional approach of attempting to minimize m u -
pling between array elements designed in isolation. The design leverages from multi-layer
FSS design, resulting in a broadband, low profile, highly efficient, conformal array.

References
J1IH.A. Wheeler, "Simple relations derived from a phased-array antenna made of an infinite
current sheet," IEEE Tmnr. Antennas Pmpgol., Vol AP-13, pp. 506514, July 1965.
[ZjMunk. Ben A. F k p e n e y Srlecliue Surfaces: Theory and Design. PES. 28-32. John Wiley
and Sons, 2OW.
13lL.W. Henderson, "Introduction to PMM," Tech. Rept. 115582.5, OSU ESL, Dept. of
Elfftrical Eng., prepared for Wright-Patterson Air Force Bare. OH, Feb. 1986
[4] "Wideband Phased Array Antenna and Aswciated Methods,"
U.S.Patent #6512487; H. Munk. R. Taylor, T. Durham.

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