An active antenna demonstrator for future AESA-systems

As a part of the Generic AESA Demonstrator Program at Ericsson Microwave Systems we have worked with an active antenna demonstrator working at S-band. The antenna demonstrator, which consists of a phased array with 96 active elements, has been designed, manufactured and evaluated. An evaluation system has been put together at an antenna near-field range and we have used this demonstrator to get practical experience in all aspects from array aperture design, T/R-module production, antenna system design, assembly/integration and antenna system calibration and evaluation. The design was intentionally chosen to be "low-risk" and "high yield" to meet a tight project schedule and well-defined goals at antenna systems level. The goal was to demonstrate a stable active antenna function with an active receive array of approximately 100 elements and to evaluate a calibration scheme based on factory characterization. Both these goals have been fulfilled within a period of 2 years including initial design-and final evaluation phase.