FIRST RF CORPORATION SBIR Phase II Award, January 2023

To maintain spectrum dominance against insurgent, near-peer, and peer adversaries, it is imperative for the United States Armed Forces and Department of Defense (DoD) to expand our nation’s superior capabilities for functions across the radio frequency (RF) spectrum, including communications, wideband electronic attack (EA), and radar missions. While recent advances in exciter and amplifier technologies have made significant enhancements in the availability of broadband, high-power electronics, a similar improvement is required for antenna arrays that can provide efficient, high-power coverage over large spatial, spectral, and polarimetric domains—including support of multiple simultaneous beams. In practice, conventional array technologies supporting these functions are not only highly specialized to their specific function, but are also subject to fundamental limitations associated with bandwidth, power handling/efficiency, scan volume, scan blindness, and polarization diversity. These limitations motivate exploration of a new class of non-traditional antenna arrays. Given the recent breakthroughs and advancements in commercially available RF electronics, there is an unprecedented opportunity for a shift in design philosophy towards combination of operational functions. With that comes a need to expand the capabilities of supporting array technologies, including a new demand for innovative array products that can support wideband, multifunction, multi-beam operations with low-cost, scalable, and adaptable arrays. To address this technology gap, FIRST RF proposes an innovative antenna element and modular array topology that, together, support next-generation, multi-mission phased array capabilities. The proposed program seeks to quantitatively demonstrate the benefits of a novel, next-generation antenna array in supporting performance that is relevant to future communications, EA, and radar systems.