Compact light weight UHF arrays using long slot apertures

A wideband low profile phased array using long slot aperture was recently developed for radar and EW applications. A prototype UHF array with 4 x 8 (32) elements (1.12 m × 2.24 m × 23 cm) was built and tested for 150–600 MHz operation. Array patterns, gain, and cross-pol level were measured. Excellent performance was observed. The array is 23 cm thick, and it weighs 7 kg (2.8 kg/m
²
). Lossy loading material may be used to make it thinner, but this is believed to be the lightest and thinnest UHF array reported for wideband applications without gain penalty.