Wide-Angle Limited Scan Array Antenna Techniques Study

A duel lens antenna design concept is investigated for the limited electronic scanning for the Range Instrumentation Radar Application. The antenna is to perform simultaneous monopulse angle tracking on multiple targets. The design goal for the antenna is a scan area of plus or minus 10 degrees in elevation and plus or minus 20 degrees in azimuth. The antenna beamwidth is specified at 1 degree. Based on an extensive trade-off study, an antenna configuration that satisfies the above requirements is selected. The antenna is a telescope-like structure which has an aperture of 11.4 min. The length to diameter ratio of the overall antenna dimension is estimated to be 2. The selected antenna configuration has been evaluated analytically. The design is believed to be a viable one and no insurmountable difficulty in fabricating the antenna has been found. The originally anticipated advantages of the antenna configuration, such as no blockage, minimum aperture size requirement, wide scan angle, small number of required phase shifters and good pattern control, are still intact. Encouraged by the computed results, an antenna hardware definition study for the antenna system cost estimate is recommended. (Author)