Phase-Tilt Array Antenna Design for Dense Distributed Radar Networks for Weather Sensing

This paper describes the design of a dual-polarized microstrip series-fed linear array as part of the phase-tilt active planar array antenna being designed for weather sensing for the CASA Engineering Research Center. The dual-polarized planar array antenna is composed of 64 linear array columns, each one formed by 32 aperture coupled patch antenna elements in cascade and excited by a 2 W solid state transmit and receive (TR) module. A straightforward synthesis method is used in order to achieve the desired amplitude and phase excitation of each linear array. Radiation patterns computed using method of moments (MoM) and measured in a compact range system are presented in order to validate the synthesis method proposed.