Scalable Array Technologies for Converged-RF Applications

High-performance radar systems utilize phased arrays to maximize their link budgets by focusing antenna radiation in a desired direction. While traditional versions of these systems have limited their operation to different radar modes only, future designs are being tasked with additionally supporting other wireless applications, such as communications and surveillance. This multi-usage of a single wireless resource is referred to as RF convergence, and is enabled by the incorporation of same-frequency simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) technology. This paper discusses the critical research areas that require maturation before scalable-STAR arrays can become a reality for converged-RF applications.