Air-cooled, active transmit/receive Panel Array

An air-cooled, 128 T/R Channel Panel Array that is 7.4 in. times 10.1 in. times 0.21 in. thick and weighs 2.2 lbs. has been designed and fabricated. The Panel Array is the ldquobuilding blockrdquo or Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) for a modular/ scalable Phased Array for Radar or Communications. The Panel Array reduces cost by leveraging high volume commodity manufacturing across a range of design requirements typical of phased array applications. The Panel Array T/R channel can incorporate SiGe, Si RF CMOS, GaAs and/or GaN Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) to optimize system performance. A 128 T/R channel, Low Power Density Panel Array has been designed at X-Band that integrates the following components and circuits: ldquoflip-chiprdquo SiGe control MMIC and GaAs LNA; patch radiators, polarization feed network, RF beamforming; DC bias and digital control. A fully populated prototype Panel Array has been fabricated and tested. The paper will present the Panel Array design and fabrication approach and measured RF data.