Electronically steerable plasma mirror based radar antenna

When compared with conventional phased arrays, a plasma mirror based radar antenna is cheaper, simpler and, perhaps, lighter. An added advantage is that the beam pointing angle is unaffected by changes in frequency, which permits targets to be illuminated and observed at simultaneous, multiple frequencies. This is a consequence of the large instantaneous bandwidth of the plasma mirror. The combination of an offset-fed reflector or planar array with an electronically steerable plasma mirror may form the basis for a radar system capable of operating with bandwidths exceeding an octave over the X- and Ku-bands. Limited scan antenna systems using a plasma mirror may offer multi-octave agility-bandwidths over a range of frequencies extending from the L- to Ku-bands.