On-the-Fly Calibration of Active Electronically Scanned Antenna Arrays

Abstract: Large scanned antenna arrays need to be periodically calibrated to correct for errors in excitation amplitude and phase, which degrade performance. The ability to adjust complex excitations to correct for these errors necessitates an accurate method to determine the errors that are present. This is difficult for arrays mounted on air- and spacecraft that cannot be easily accessed during operation or operate under transient conditions. I will discuss how distributed targets can be used to determine relative element-to-element channel imbalances in pairs of antennas using the underlying terrain through synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging.

Bio: Duncan Madden (Graduate Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2020 and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in 2022 where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering. His research focuses on design and improvement of phased arrays for radar and communications, particularly on-the-fly calibration of active antenna arrays in transient environments. He is a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow.