01 / COHERENT BY DESIGN
Small elements.
Collective intelligence.
Individually controlled channels combine across the aperture. Phase sets direction; amplitude weighting trades beamwidth for lower sidelobes.
PAX–256 / ACTIVE PHASED ARRAY
Precision, in phase.
256 elements. One coherent wavefront.
Explore the hardware that gives a signal direction.
01 / INSIDE THE ARRAY
EXPLODED ISOMETRIC · 08 SUBSYSTEMSREFERENCE CONCEPT DRAG TO ORBIT · HOVER TO DISCOVER · CLICK TO PIN
INTERACTIVE HARDWARE EXPLORER
256 elements16 × 16 PLANAR APERTURE
10 GHzEXAMPLE CARRIER / X-BAND
λ/2 pitch14.99 mm AT 10 GHz
0 moving partsELECTRONIC BEAM STEERING
02 / THE PHYSICS OF DIRECTION
COHERENCE IS THE SUPERPOWERNO GIMBALS. JUST PHASE.
Move the beam.
Not the hardware.
Shift the timing of neighboring elements and their waves add together in a new direction. The aperture stays still. The wavefront does the turning.
Try a steering angle. Watch the phase progression change across one row of the array—and the main lobe follow.
−60°+60°
THE STEERING LAW
Δφ = −2π dλ sin θ₀Adjacent-element phase step: −61.56°
NORMALIZED ARRAY FACTOR LIVE MODEL
STEER DIRECTION+20°
PHASE STEP−61.56°
ELEMENT SPACING0.50 λ
01RELATIVE PHASE / ONE 16-ELEMENT ROW16
Ideal 16-element principal-plane cut · uniform weighting · d = λ/2 · power scale, −40 to 0 dB. Element pattern, coupling, losses, and phase quantization are excluded.
Small elements.
02 / CONTROL AT EVERY CHANNEL
Precision begins
between the elements.
Phase and gain corrections compensate for channel differences. Calibration keeps the intended wavefront from drifting with temperature and time.
03 / PHYSICS, NOT MAGIC
Every advantage.
Every trade-off.
Scanning away from broadside widens the beam. Finite apertures create sidelobes. Fixed phase shifts cause beam squint as frequency changes.