Low-profile, integrated radiator tiles for wideband, circular-polarized phased array applications

A versatile planar, low-profile radiating element for phased array applications has been developed that can provide excellent scan and axial ratio performance over a very wide frequency bandwidth. The design is based on a stacked-disc configuration where the lower disc is fed by a pair of probes per linear polarisation. The stacked-disc radiator has since been integrated with its feed circuits in a very compact and versatile package. This package, referred to as an integrated radiator tile, is the building block for a very low-profile phased array aperture that can provide dual circular polarization. The radiator tile's form factor lends itself well to many conformal applications and tile array architectures in general. This paper presents an integrated radiator tile design that was developed for an active array antenna for submarine satellite communication. It describes the packaging scheme and shows the measured performance of the various components. A small test array was built using the radiator tiles to demonstrate its element performance. Its results are also discussed.