Submarine system applications for phased array technology

For decades, United States submarines performed their missions with only a minimal amount of communications. Today, however, there is a need for submarines to serve new missions, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), covert strike, and battle group support. These missions require a dramatic improvement in the radio frequency (RF) systems on submarines to support capabilities such as high data rate communications, improved navigation, and more sensitive detection of the electromagnetic (EM) environment above the sea surface. Phased array technology potentially offers significant advantages over other antenna approaches in providing higher data rate communications to submarines while addressing platform volume and environmental constraints. Multifunction arrays improves submarine EM capabilities by co-locating additional functions in a single mast system. The current state-of-the-art in phased array technology for submarines is discussed here, along with notional system configurations for supporting phased array technology on submarines.