AESA Overview

The advancement of microelectronics and receiver technology has benefited active electronically scanned arrays (AESAs). Although AESAs are becoming more widespread, many people unfamiliar with AESAs believe it is a new technology. However, AESAs were being developed as far back as the early 1960s. The features and characteristics that make AESAs attractive for radar have a similar attraction for other technology areas. This chapter describes the applicability of AESAs for these areas. The driving requirements flowed to an AESA are based upon system‐level performance parameters that affect the radar range equation. With an understanding of how an AESA impacts signal‐to‐noise ratio, the block diagram for a transmit receive system will be introduced that will be referenced throughout the remaining chapters. Great care is taken in the design of an AESA to understand how all of the cascaded electronics operate together for overall AESA performance.