Air-Cooled, Active Transmit/Receive Panel Array

An air-cooled, 128 T/R channel panel array that is 7.4 in. times 10.1 in. times 0.21 in. thick and weighs 2.2 lbs. has been designed and fabricated. The panel array is the "building block" line replaceable unit (LRU) for a modular/scalable phased array for radar or communications. The panel array approach reduces cost with an architecture that uses commercial processes and provides flexibility for a range of design requirements typical of phased array applications. The panel array T/R channel can incorporate SiGe, Si RF CMOS, GaAs and/or GaN MMICs to optimize system performance. A 128 T/R channel, low power density panel array has been designed at X-band that integrates the following components and circuits: "flip-chip " SiGe control MMIC and GaAs LNA; patch radiators, polarization feed network, RF beamforming; DC bias and digital control. A partially populated prototype panel array has been fabricated and tested. The paper presents the panel array design, fabrication and assembly approach and measured RF data.