Design and Implementation of an X-Band Low-Profile Active Electronically Scanned Array for Airborne Radar

Abstract

The results of the fabrication of active electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas with low-profile, low-weight, wide-scan, and thermal stability characteristics for aircraft-mounted radar are described. To reduce the size and weight of the antenna, a transmitreceive block is constructed in a quasi-tile structure in which the radio-frequency circuit-related transmit-receive module is a brick type, which is a flat structure, and the control board is a tile type, which is a stacked structure, to reduce the depth of the front of the antenna. In addition, the depth of the rear part of the antenna was reduced by manufacturing power and plate-shaped control-related modules at the rear of the antenna. The reduced antenna depth maximizes the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) and gain to noise temperature (G/T) by enlarging the antenna aperture. The manufactured antenna can scan a wide angle of ±70°. The cooling efficiency is improved by using a dual cooling structure that allows the cooling water to pass through the front cooling plate and then through the rear cooling plate. The EIRP of the manufactured AESA antenna is 104.04 dBmi, and G/T is 7.46 dB/K in Taylor weighting.