Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESA) Architectures

This lecture provides an overview of various active electronically scanned array (AESA) topologies spanning AESAs with phase shifters and true time delay, Subarrayed and Overlapped Subarray AESAs, and Elemental Digitally Beamformed (EDBF) AESAs. Key features of AESA scan behavior are reviewed for analog beamformers followed by a focused description for various AESA architectures. Limitations and advantages of subarrayed architectures are explained with analytical expressions and illustration. The transformative capability that EDBF AESAs can provide is described in addition to challenges for implementation with current technology. The lecture concludes with an overview on Adaptive Beamforming.