Design considerations for space-based radar phased arrays

Space based radar (SBR) is being considered as a means to provide persistent global surveillance. In order to be effective, the SBR system must be capable of high area coverage rates, low minimum detectable velocities (MDV), accurate geolocation, high range resolution, and robustness against electronic interference. These objectives will impose challenging requirements on the antenna array, including wide-angle electronic scanning, wide instantaneous bandwidth, large power-aperture product, low sidelobe radiation patterns, lightweight deployable structures, multiple array phase centers, and adaptive pattern synthesis. This paper discusses key enabling technologies for low earth orbit (LEO) SBR arrays including high efficiency transmit/receive modules and multilayer tile architectures, and the parametric influence of array design variables on the SBR system.