Distributed Aperture RF System Antenna Segmentation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Airborne Active Electronically Steerable Antenna (AESA) systems face issues with high cost, complexity, cooling, weight, power consumption, and international restrictions, limiting their installation and effectiveness, particularly due to the need for thousands of Transmit/Receive Modules and the bulkiness that prevents conformal mounting on aircraft surfaces, and traditional pulsed RF sensing systems require dedicated equipment for each mission type, impacting weight, power, and cost.
Innovation Solution
The Distributed Aperture Multi Sensing RF Pulsed System (DAMSS) architecture separates Tx and Rx antennas, uses low-directivity Tx antennas with a small number of modules, and high-directivity Rx arrays, enabling simultaneous multi-RF sensing with reduced weight, power, and cost, and employs Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Active Array technology for conformal mounting and efficient signal processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional AESA systems use thousands of TRMs to achieve high performance radar detection, then the radar detection capability is improved, but the system cost, complexity, and weight increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the traditional monolithic AESA system into separate transmit and receive antenna systems. The transmit antenna uses a limited number of high-power amplifiers to generate RF signals, while the receive antenna employs a large array of low-cost receive modules. This segmentation allows each subsystem to be optimized independently, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining detection performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the receive function from the traditional TRM architecture and creates a dedicated receive antenna system with numerous simple receive modules. By taking out the receive function and separating it from the complex TRM units, the system achieves high detection capability through array processing of multiple simple receivers rather than through complex unified modules.
2Measurement precision
If high performance AESA systems are installed to achieve better radar performance, then the detection performance is improved, but the weight and power consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the radar system into transmit and receive portions with different weight characteristics. The transmit antenna with few high-power amplifiers contributes minimal weight, while the receive antenna with many simple modules uses lightweight components. This segmentation allows the system to achieve high performance without the weight penalty of thousands of heavy TRM units.
Solution Approach 2:
The receive modules in the patent are designed as simple, low-cost, lightweight components that can be mass-produced. Rather than using expensive, heavy, high-performance TRMs for each element, the system employs numerous inexpensive receive modules that are easier to manufacture and install, significantly reducing overall system weight.
3Area of stationary object
If traditional AESA systems are mounted on aircraft to achieve surveillance capability, then the radar coverage is improved, but the installation feasibility is reduced due to bulkiness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the radar system into two separate antenna systems that can be independently mounted on different parts of the aircraft surface. The transmit antenna can be placed in one location while the receive antenna is distributed across another area, allowing flexible installation that conforms to aircraft geometry without requiring a single bulky integrated system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a traditional planar array configuration to a three-dimensional distributed aperture configuration. The receive antenna elements are distributed across the aircraft surface in multiple dimensions, allowing the system to achieve large effective aperture area while adapting to the curved surface of the aircraft, thereby improving installation feasibility.
4Measurement precision
If high performance AESA systems are deployed to achieve better radar detection, then the detection probability is improved, but the detectability by EW systems increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the transmit function from the traditional integrated AESA system and separates it from the receive function. By taking out the high-power transmit modules and using only a few of them with low duty cycle pulsing, the system achieves good detection probability while significantly reducing the electromagnetic signature that would otherwise make it detectable by EW systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The transmit antenna in the patent operates with periodic pulsed transmission rather than continuous operation. This periodic action with low duty cycle allows the system to accumulate detection data over multiple pulses while keeping the average transmitted power and electromagnetic signature low, thereby maintaining detection probability while reducing EW detectability.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An Airborne/Spaceborne Distributed Aperture Multi Sensing RF Pulsed System (1) comprises one or more Radiating Groups (4), which are designed to be mountable to an aircraft/spacecraft skin surface in a (quasi-)conformal way, are independently and selectively operable to perform the same or different RF functions, and each comprises a basic Transmit-Receive Module (8), where transmit and receive functions are separated, and comprising a Transmit-only Antenna Module (9) comprising a phased array of transmit-only antenna elements designed to transmit a wide transmit beam, and an Receive-only Antenna Module (10) comprising a phased array of transmit-only antenna elements designed to simultaneously receive multiple narrow receive beams. The number of antenna elements in the Transmit-only Antenna Module (9) is lower than the number of antenna elements in the Receive-only Antenna Module (10). The Transmit-only Antenna Module (9) has antenna gain lower than the Receive-only Antenna Module (10). The Transmit-only and Receive-only Antenna Modules (9, 10) are designed such that the transmit beam has a lower directivity than the individual receive beams so as to result in the transmit beam having a wider azimuthal and/or elevational beamwidth than the individual receive beams.