A Ku-band mixer steering electronic scanning phased array system

An eight-element Ku-band linear phased array system with frequency of operation between 16 and 17 GHz is described. Beam scanning is performed by steering mixers located in the element channels, with element phasing information generated at L-band frequencies. The system employs a hybrid mode of beam scanning. That is, the beam steering programmer can digitally deploy the beam in target space with continuous straddle scan about each discrete beam position. The beam can be scanned 45 degrees off the boresight axis in nominal steps of 11 degrees. However, the beam steering programmer design is flexible enough to permit finer steppings within the scan sector using up to 15 discrete beam positions. This paper gives information on the array design and performance data.