Electronic Search Beam Stabilization

Compensating for ship's motion (roll and pitch) is a problem fundamental to shipboard radars. The more traditional aproach has been to mechanically stabilize the antenna structure. The alternative approach of stabilizing only the antenna beam is far from being new conceptually, but is more realizable with today's technology. The basic elements are a planar array with an elevation scan capability that rotates continuously in azimuth combined with a high speed digital processor. Electronic stabilization of such an antenna is inherently more challenging than that of a two-axis phase-scanned array. An algorithm is derived for surveillance beam positioning as the antenna rotates. The implementation of this algorithm provides hemispheric search beam stabilization.