Planar low profile, wideband, widescan phased array antenna using a stacked-disc radiator

摘要

A phased array antenna (10) having stacked-disc radiators embedded in dielectric media. The phased array antenna has a rectangular arrangement of unit cells (19) that are disposed on a ground plane (11). A lower dielectric puck (12) with a high dielectric constant is disposed on the ground plane. An excitable disc (13) is disposed within the perimeter of and on top of the lower dielectric puck. An upper low dielectric constant dielectric puck (16) that has a dielectric constant lower than that of the lower dielectric puck is disposed on the excitable disc. A parasitic disc (17) is disposed within the perimeter of and on top of the upper dielectric puck. Dielectric filler material (26) having a dielectric constant that is lower than that of the lower dielectric puck surrounds the dielectric pucks. A radome (18) is disposed on top of the parasitic disc and the unit cell. Two orthogonal pairs of excitation probes (14) are coupled to the lower excitable disc. The polarization of the phased array antenna may be single linear polarization, dual linear polarization, or circular polarization depending on whether a single pair or two pairs of excitation probes are excited