A low cost lightweight subarray for multibeam phased arrays

Abstract

Commercial off-the-shelf components and robotic manufacturing techniques have been employed to develop a lightweight low cost subarray. Dozens of these multilayer subarrays make up the phased array that operates in the telemetry band and electronically scans over a 120 deg cone of coverage. High-rel, multilayer fabrication techniques are described that guarantee that the subarray meets both its mechanical and RF requirements.