Next Generation, Sub-mm-Wave/THz Phased Arrays for Radar and Communication

HRL Laboratories is developing a new approach for high resolution radar imaging on stationary platforms. Funded by DARPA STO on the Advanced Scanning Technology for Imaging Radars (ASTIR) program, high angular resolution is achieved by operating at 235GHz and using a scalable tile array architecture. HRL utilizes aperture coding techniques to minimize size and complexity of the RF electronics, and wafer-level fabrication and integration allow tiles containing 1024 elements to be manufactured with reasonable costs. We will present the design of a 1024 element array of antennas with integrated single-bit phase shifters. The use of an active reflectarray allows the high resolution radar to be implemented using a single 235GHz radar transceiver, while modulated signals from the CASA array are used to digitally form pencil beams with multiplicative transmit and receive patterns. We also discuss results for 3D integrated, 220GHz transmit and receive arrays on the DARPA ELGAR program.