New phased array antenna architecture for the X-band radar

The geodesic sphere phased array antenna system (see Bondyopadhyay, P.K., US Patent No. 6,292,134, 2001) is proposed as the new electronically scanned X-Band radar architecture for mid-course missile defense. In the proposed architecture, a number of substantially equilateral triangular planar subarrays of antenna elements are arranged in a geodesic sphere configuration derived from the truncated (or regular) icosahedron, an Archimedian (or Platonic) solid. The architecture should replace the present configuration when a tilted single planar phased array is mounted on a rotating platform for very slow mechanical scanning in azimuth.