Mechanically Controlled, Wide-Angle Scanning, Series-Fed Antenna Array With Low Profile for High-Power Radar Systems
Christos Milias, Rasmus B. Andersen, Thomas Høgholm Jørgensen, Bilal Muhammad, Jes T. B. Kristensen, Albena Mihosvka, Dan D. S. Hermansen, Pavlos I. Lazaridis, Zaharias D. Zaharis
Abstract
This article presents the design and implementation of a mechanically controlled, series-fed antenna array featuring wide-angle beamsteering at the X-band. A theoretical model of a series-fed array, including phase shifters inserted between consecutive elements, is initially developed to derive design rules and gain insight into crucial performance tradeoffs. Subsequently, a mechanically controlled, reflection-type phase shifter consisting of a branch line coupler and two Pi-network reflective loads is presented. A movable metallic overlay tunes the impedance of the reflective loads, thus effectively modifying the output phase. While requiring a minimal linear displacement of only <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.06\lambda _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , this topology provides a maximum phase shift of 300° with an average insertion loss of 1 dB and is exploited for synthesizing a series-fed patch array. Based on simulations and measurements, the proposed antenna offers an almost constant realized gain of about 15 dBi within a wide scanning range of ±50°, and the sidelobe level is better than −12 dB. The average total efficiency is 50%, and the cross-polarization levels are at least 11 dB below the maximum realized gain. The main weaknesses are the narrow bandwidth of 2.5% and the slight beam squint as the frequency varies. The proposed design is ideal for radars due to its excellent performance and high power-handling capability.