Fundamental design issues for monolithic phased arrays

Basic design issues associated with the monolithic implementation of microwave and millimeter-wave active aperture, conformal, phased array antenna systems are presented. Since the planar surface area is limited and large regions must be set aside as unused exclusion zones to prevent mutual coupling, fitting all of the essential components such as phase shifters, amplifiers and a feed network within the available inter-element area is extremely difficult. Electrical, thermal and mechanical tradeoffs related to monolithic subarray technology are described in detail.