A Programmable Phased Array with Time-Delay Units and its Applications

Abstract

In this paper, a phased array antenna schematic using true time delays is proposed and suitable time-delays are inserted by switching ON/OFF the RF switches. Using this concept, one can generate SUM pattern, DIFFERENCE pattern, as well as a combination of these two. It is shown that SUM-DIFFERENCE pattern has interesting applications in radar, namely, calibration of beam pointing accuracy and blind speed elimination in a delay line cancellation method. The proposed method can also be formatted to requirements of conical scan as well as shaped beam generation. The proposed method is validated using existing knowledge.