MEM switch technology in radar

Microelectromechanical (MEM) RF switch technology has been demonstrated to exhibit very low insertion loss with multi-octave performance at microwave frequencies. MEM RF switch designs require very low actuation control energy with minimal current at very high speeds. These characteristics, along with the demonstrated potential for high volume, low cost fabrication, make MEM technology very useful for advanced radar sensor systems. In application to phase shifters and switchable delay lines, MEM switches offer better performance and lower system prime power at lower cost than current GaAs MMIC or ferrite implementations. This paper examines and quantifies the impact that MEM RF switch technology will have on future agile beam radar sensor systems and discuss the implications for future system architectures.