J. O. Coleman

TITLE:

Efficient Subarray Realization through Layering

AUTHORS:

J. O. Coleman, K. R. McPhail, P. E. Cahill, and D. P. Scholnik

ABSTRACT:

In many "digital" planar receive arrays proposed today element outputs are not digitized directly. Instead, the outputs of a lesser number of overlapped identical analog subarrays are digitized. Here the severe cost/performance tradeoff usually encountered when choosing subarray sizes and overlaps is dramatically improved by replacing the usual single layer of analog subarray processing with multiple layers of subarray processing, each further reducing the spatial density of signal outputs to be processed. The set of signals digitized can be made quite sparse while realizing most of the required large subarray overlap in the low-cost intermediate layers. Here we develop the theory and present a major design example in which the cost/performance tradeoff is improved a full order of magnitude by one key measure. We discuss receive arrays, but the ideas apply to transmit arrays as well.

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STATUS:

Presented to the Antenna Applications Symposium, Robert Allerton Park, Monticello IL, USA, Sep. 21-23, 2005.

DATE OF ENTRY:

August 2005. Updated November 2005.