Wideband planar array antenna

Multiband operation of planar and phased array antennas is becoming increasingly important in both military and commercial communications due to the need for flexibility in meeting a number of operational SATCOM requirements. With today's technology, multiband operation requires changing antenna feed components and so hinders rapid changeover to different operating frequency bands. Planar antenna size and weight may be reduced by employing optical feed design concepts (i.e. optical generation and control) in the development of a wideband phased array communication system architecture. The resulting antenna system can be rapidly reconfigured to operate on any of several bands, and has mechanical stability advantages.