An experimental S-band digital beamforming antenna

This paper describes a 12 channel S-band digital beamforming antenna aimed at radar applications. It has a 2.8-3.3 GHz agile band and the signal is sampled at IF. The design of antenna elements, calibration network, receiver modules and signal processing ASIC are discussed. Calibration procedures and experimental results, showing very good performance, are also presented. The purpose of this work is to evaluate design parameters, requirements and limitations.