Challenges, Solutions, and the Future of High Power Microwave Antennas

High power antennas are specially designed to direct source power for long range effects in fields such as communication, radar, space, and defense. For defense, specifically high power microwave (HPM) systems, power levels of 100s of MWs to GWs are expected. As power level increases, breakdown in the transmit antenna becomes a leading challenge. The combination of high power and short pulses create fields that often meet or surpass the air breakdown threshold. Minimizing a systems Size, Weight, and Power consumption (SWaP-c) to maximize mobility while maintaining high gain creates a challenging problem space. Recent work in antennas show promise in addressing the common challenges faced by the directed energy (DE) community, shifting the future of HPM antennas.