Phased Array Antennas

This course is designed for entry-level engineers, technical managers, or students with a basic electrical engineering background seeking to understand how multiple antenna elements collaborate to steer a beam electronically without physical movement. We begin with an introduction to phased array systems through the lens of ray-optics principles, followed by a comparative analysis of the benefits and trade-offs between dish antennas and various phased array designs. We will then explore array fundamentals, specifically focusing on how element and array factors contribute to the overall antenna pattern. This section delves into beam steering approaches across different geometric configurations and addresses critical design consequences such as sidelobes, grating lobes, beam squint, and inter-element mutual coupling.

The course then examines modern design approaches by highlighting the distinctions between active and passive arrays, alongside the advantages and complexities of analog, digital, hybrid, and optimal beamforming techniques. Moving into practical applications, the session covers instrumentation and implementation details specifically for telemetry, emphasizing the role of modeling and simulation during the design phase. To ensure a comprehensive understanding. Calibration and testing techniques for verifying the underlying assumptions of the design are explored. The program concludes with a challenging real-world case study and solution, followed by a summary and a Q&A session.