In a MAESA (Multifunction/multirole Active Electronically Steered Array) system performing simultaneously different TX and RX functions with different sub-apertures there are unwanted effects due to the interferences of a transmitting sub-aperture on the receiving one. This type of interference is called "mutual coupling". The sub-apertures dedicated to different activities (Radar, ECM, ESM, and COM) can interfere among one and another by means of i) direct coupling due to direct free-space radiation and to substrate-conduced waves; ii) reflection from platform structure; iii) clutter reflections due to the close returns from environment. An analysis of the direct coupling effect has been carried out to determine if two given system functions can be executed with an acceptable amount of mutual interference or not. The scope of this paper is to present the mutual interference model and evaluation method for the interference levels between TX and RX functions serving as a knowledge base for future design of MAESA applications.
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