Effect of a Wet Spherical Radome on the Reflected Power for an S-band Planar Phased Array Radar Antenna

Abstract

An active S-band dual-polarized multifunction phased array radar (MP AR), the Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD), has recently been developed for weather sensing and aircraft surveillance. The ATD is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) with 4864 transmit/receive (T /R) modules and was installed in a spherical radome. Simulations and a novel phased array measurement technique have been explored to assess the impact of high reflectivity from a wet radome during rain that can potentially induce voltages exceeding the transmit amplifier breakdown voltage. The measurement technique uses array elements radiating one at a time to illuminate the radome, and uses superposition to quantify the received signal power in a reference antenna on the face of the array. It is shown that when the radome surface is wet and highly reflective, certain electronic steering angles sum to a large reflected signal focused on the array face. This measurement technique can be used prior to high-power phased array radar operation to monitor the magnitude of reflections and help avoid element transmit amplifier failures.