Low-Cost Phased Array Consisting of a Mixture of Active and Passive Elements

This paper proposes a low-cost phased array consisting of a mixture of active and passive elements. In this antenna array, only 2/3 elements are connected to a T/R module (called active elements). The remaining 1/3 elements are excited by the active elements instead of TIR modules (called passive elements). Compared with the traditional phased array, the proposed antenna array can reduce the antenna channels and TIR modules by 1/3, significantly reducing the cost of the antenna array. Simulation results show that the proposed antenna array can scan the beam in the range of 0 degrees to 50 degrees, with similar gain and sidelobe performance to traditional antenna arrays.