Statistical Analysis and Model Validation of a UWBInnovative Phased Array for M-AESA Applications

This paper presents a novel analysis, design, and test of an ultra-wideband (UWB) phased array for Multifunctional Active Electronically Scanned Array (M-AESA) applications. The 2-D array is designed to work from 1 GHz to 6 GHz (i.e., from L to C band), providing more than two octaves of frequency band. The radiating element is the so-called connected Vivaldi antenna, which exploits here the ‘‘connected array’’ concept. It provides low cost and a simplified integration, with good matching properties, good polarization purity, excellent realized gain, and very high total efficiency. An innovative rigorous statistical analysis has been developed, which accounts for the quantization and uncertainty of complex excitations in terms of both amplitude and phase coefficients. Finally, an experimental validation has also been performed on a proof-of-concept connected Vivaldi array prototype. The excellent agreement between measurements and simulations looks really promising.