A performance monitoring/fault isolation and correction system of a phased array antenna using transmission-line signal injection with phase toggling method

The authors describe a performance monitoring/fault isolation and correction (PM/FIC) system that operates with a large phased array with active transmit/receive (T/R) modules. The performance monitoring of the smart skins phased array is achieved by using a transmission-line signal injection technique. The technique may be simply implemented by attaching the coupling transmission lines to the radome. The approach is ideal for the multilayered architecture without introducing a complicated signal injector. This approach of fault isolation by phase toggling together with the transmission line signal injection method is simple and cost effective. The approach makes use of the existing signal processor and phase shifter at the T/R module in the radar system for performance monitoring and fault isolation at the element level.<>