Hybrid Mechanical/Electronical Steering Antenna: Concept, Design and First Mockup

The objective of this article is to present the design, manufacturing and experimental characterization of a 1-D electronically steerable array of 4x4 elements. This study fits into the scope of the development of a hybrid mechanical/electronical steering antenna of 16x8 elements for S-band ground telemetry applications. One of the challenges of this study is the design of a dual-polarization unit cell working over a 9% bandwidth and a +/-45° angular spectrum, with relatively low-cost technology. Experimental results validate the performance of the 4x4 array.