Impact of T/R module performance on tradeoff design of airborne AESA radar

Transmit/Receive (T/R) modules are key components in Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) for advanced airborne radar, and their performance affects the capability of airborne AESA radar in several aspects. In this paper, a procedure is proposed with the tradeoff design of an AESA radar between the power-aperture product (PAP) and the peak-to-side lobe ratio (PSLR) of its antenna. While the PAP decides the maximum detection range, the PSLR is desired for low probability of intercept (LPI) radars as well as for alleviating clutter interference. The analysis results indicate that both high PAP and PSLR can not be achieved simultaneously based on the state-of-art performance of Ku-band T/R modules.