Compact Wideband Direction Finder

Traditional interferometry techniques for direction finding require a collection of antennas to uniquely determine angle of arrival. Extending this technique to wide bandwidths often requires a "farm" of apertures and many receivers requiring a large amount of real estate. On airborne platforms, where size and weight are crucial, a more compact, innovative solution that reduces SWAP is thus desirable. Multi-arm self-complimentary antennas that support multiple radiating modes provide a path forward for overall DF antenna miniaturization. On this proposed program, we plan to design, fabricate, assemble and test a multi-arm, multi-mode antenna and beamforming network to achieve dual-polarized direction finding over a broad field of view within a single aperture. The PolyStrata microfabrication process will be a key enabler of achieving low front-end losses in a compact package.