Electronically steered, dual-polarized, dual-plane, monopulse antenna feed

• US 20100052987A1
• Filed: 09/03/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Weinstein, Michael E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,834,803 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/372
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/19 comprising one main concave reflecting surface associated with an auxiliary reflecting surface
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/24 Combinations of antenna units polarised in different directions for transmitting or receiving circularly and elliptically polarised waves or waves linearly polarised in any direction circularly polarised patch antennas H01Q9/0428; circularly polarised horns H01Q13/0241; cross-polarised horns H01Q13/0258; polarisation converters H01Q15/242; cross-polarised rear feeds H01Q19/136; crossed polarisation dual antenna H01Q25/001
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/02 providing sum and difference patterns H01Q25/04 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus for electronically steering a RADAR beam across an array of feed horns by moving the phase center of the beam to different origination points on the array—each origination point being the phase center of a feed horn pair. Variations include polarized beams, polarized feed horns, dual-beam systems, dual direction steering, diagonal steering, and cross-polarized wire grids to control beamwidth.

Claims

1. A method for electronically steering a polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horn pairs in a planar direction defined by at least three co-planar, similarly polarized, diagonal feed horns, the method comprising:

activating the first and second feed horns as a first feed horn pair in the feed horn array, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, to produce a RADAR beam from the phase center of the first feed horn pair;

de-activating the first feed horn; and

activating the third feed horn in the feed horn array to create a second feed horn pair including the second and third feed horns, wherein the third feed horn is adjacent to the second feed horn, said activating the second feed horn pair moving the phase center of the RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first feed horn pair to the phase center of the second feed horn pair.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said activating the first and second feed horns, said de-activating, and said activating the third feed horn are all accomplished by commutative switching of the feed horns.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said commutative switching includes connecting and disconnecting the feed horns to and from at least one radio-frequency comparator.

2. A method for electronically steering a polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horns in a planar direction defined by at least two co-planar, similarly polarized, stacked feed horn pairs, the method comprising:

activating the first feed horn pair, the first feed horn pair comprising a first and a second feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, stacked orthogonal to the planar direction, and similarly polarized, to produce a RADAR beam from the phase center of the first feed horn pair;

de-activating the first feed horn pair; and

activating the second feed horn pair, the second feed horn pair comprising a third and a fourth feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the third and fourth feed horns are mutually adjacent, stacked orthogonal to the planar direction, and similarly polarized, and further wherein the second feed horn pair is adjacent and similarly polarized to the first feed horn pair, and wherein the second feed horn pair is co-planar to the first feed horn pair in the planar direction, said activating the second feed horn pair moving the phase center of the RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first feed horn pair to the phase center of the second feed horn pair.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said activating the first feed horn pair, said de-activating, and said activating the second feed horn pair are all accomplished by commutative switching of the feed horns.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said commutative switching includes connecting and disconnecting the feed horn pairs to and from at least one radio-frequency comparator.

7. A method of dual-plane electronic beam steering of a polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horns in two planar directions, wherein the first planar direction is a planar direction defined by at least three co-planar, similarly polarized, feed horns and the second planar direction is orthogonal to the first planar direction, the method comprising:

first planar direction steering by;

activating the first and second feeds horn as a first feed horn pair in the feed horn array, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the first planar direction, and similarly polarized, to produce the first polarized RADAR beam from the phase center of the first horn pair;

de-activating said first feed horn; and

activating a third polarized feed horn in the feed horn array to create a second feed horn pair including the second and third feed horns, wherein the third feed horn is adjacent to the second feed horn and co-planar and similarly polarized with respect to the first and second feed horns, said activating the second feed horn pair steering the polarized RADAR beam in the first planar direction by moving the phase center of the polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the second horn pair;

second planar direction steering by;

activating said first feed horn pair;

de-activating said first feed horn pair; and

activating a third horn pair comprising a third and a fourth feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the third and fourth feed horns are mutually adjacent and co-planar in first planar direction, and polarized similarly to the first and second feed horns, and wherein the first horn pair is adjacent and co-planar to the third horn pair in the second planar direction, said activating the third horn pair steering the polarized RADAR beam in the second planar direction by moving the phase center of the polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the third horn pair.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein all said activating and said de-activating steps are accomplished by commutative switching of the feed horns.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said commutative switching includes connecting and disconnecting the feed horns to and from at least one radio-frequency comparator.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising diagonal-to-first planar direction beam steering by:

activating the first feed horn pair;

de-activating the first feed horn pair; and

activating the third feed horn pair, said activating the third feed horn pair steering the polarized RADAR beam diagonal to the first planar direction by moving the phase center of the polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the third horn pair.

11. A method of electronically steering of a first polarized monopulse RADAR beam and a second polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horns in a planar direction, where the first and second beam polarizations are orthogonal, the method comprising:

first beam steering by;

activating a first and a second feed horn as a first feed horn pair in the feed horn array, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the first planar direction, and polarized in the first polarization;

to produce the first polarized RADAR beam from the phase center of the first horn pair;

de-activating said first feed horn; and

activating a third feed horn in the feed horn array to create a second feed horn pair including the second and third feed horns, wherein the third feed horn is adjacent to the second feed horn and co-planar and similarly polarized with respect to the first and second feed horns, said activating a third feed horn steering the first polarized RADAR beam by moving the phase center of the first polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the second horn pair;

second beam steering by;

activating a fourth and a fifth feed horn as a third feed horn pair in the feed horn array, wherein the fourth and fifth feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in a direction orthogonal to the planar direction, and polarized in the second polarization, to produce the second polarized RADAR beam from the phase center of the third horn pair;

de-activating said third feed horn pair; and

activating a fourth horn pair comprising a sixth and a seventh feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the sixth and seventh feed horns are mutually adjacent and co-planar a direction orthogonal to the planar direction, and polarized in the second polarization, and wherein the third horn pair is adjacent and co-planar to the fourth horn pair in the planar direction, said activating a fourth horn pair steering the second polarized RADAR beam by moving the phase center of the second polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the third horn pair to the phase center of the fourth horn pair.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein all said activating and said de-activating steps are accomplished by commutative switching of the feed horns.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said commutative switching includes:

connecting and disconnecting the first, second, and third feed horns to and from a first radio-frequency comparator; and

connecting and disconnecting the third and fourth feed horn pairs to and from a second radio-frequency comparator.

14. A method of dual-plane electronic beam steering of a first polarized monopulse RADAR beam and a second polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horns in two orthogonal planar directions, wherein the first planar direction corresponds to the first beam polarization direction and the second planar direction corresponds to the second beam polarization direction and wherein the beam polarization directions are also orthogonal, the method comprising:

first beam first planar direction steering by;

activating a first and a second feed horn as a first feed horn pair in the feed horn array, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the first planar direction, and polarized in the first polarization direction, to produce the first polarized RADAR beam from the phase center of the first horn pair;

de-activating said first feed horn; and

activating a third feed horn in the feed horn array to create a second feed horn pair, wherein the third feed horn is adjacent to the second feed horn and co-planar and similarly polarized with respect to the first and second feed horns, said activating a first and a second feed horn steering the first polarized RADAR beam in the first planar direction by moving the phase center of the first polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the second horn pair;

first beam second planar direction steering by;

activating said first feed horn pair;

de-activating said first feed horn pair; and

activating a third horn pair comprising a fourth and a fifth feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the fourth and fifth feed horns are mutually adjacent and co-planar in first planar direction, and polarized in the first polarization direction, and wherein the first horn pair is adjacent and co-planar to the third horn pair in the second planar direction, said activating a third horn pair steering the first polarized RADAR beam in the second planar direction by moving the phase center of the first polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the third horn pair;

second beam second planar direction steering by;

activating a sixth and a seventh feed horn as a fourth feed horn pair in the feed horn array, wherein the sixth and seventh feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the second planar direction, and polarized in the second polarization direction, to produce the second polarized RADAR beam from the phase center of the fourth horn pair;

de-activating said fifth feed horn; and

activating an eighth feed horn in the feed horn array to create a fifth feed horn pair, wherein the eighth feed horn is adjacent to the seventh feed horn and co-planar and similarly polarized with respect to the sixth and seventh feed horns, said activating an eighth feed horn steering the second polarized RADAR beam in the second planar direction by moving the phase center of the second polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the fourth horn pair to the phase center of the fifth horn pair;

second beam first planar direction steering by;

activating said fourth feed horn pair;

de-activating said fourth feed horn pair; and

activating a sixth horn pair comprising a ninth and a tenth feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the ninth and tenth feed horns are mutually adjacent and co-planar in second planar direction, and polarized in the second polarization direction, and wherein the fourth horn pair is adjacent and co-planar to the sixth horn pair in the first planar direction, said activating a sixth horn pair steering the second polarized RADAR beam in the first planar direction by moving the phase center of the second polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the fourth horn pair to the phase center of the sixth horn pair.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein all said activating and said de-activating steps are accomplished by commutative switching of the feed horns.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said commutative switching includes:

connecting and disconnecting the feed horns polarized in the first polarization to and from a first radio-frequency comparator; and

connecting and disconnecting the feed horns polarized in the second polarization to and from a second radio-frequency comparator.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising polarization-switched beam steering in a third planar direction by:

activating the first feed horn pair to emit a first-polarized RADAR beam;

de-activating the first feed horn pair; and

activating a seventh feed horn pair comprising the eighth and tenth feed horns to emit a second-polarized RADAR beam, said activating the seventh feed horn pair steering the RADAR beam emitted from said feed horn array by moving the phase center of the RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the seventh horn pair and changing the polarization of the emitted beam from the first polarization to the second polarization.

18. An apparatus for electronically steering a polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horn pairs in a planar direction defined by at least three co-planar, similarly polarized feed horns, the apparatus comprising:

a radio-frequency (RF) comparator;

a first feed horn pair including a first feed horn and a second feed horn, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the planar direction, and similarly polarized, and wherein the first feed horn pair produces a RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a second feed horn pair including a third feed horn and the second feed horn, wherein the third feed horn is adjacent to the second feed horn and co-planar and similarly polarized with respect to the first and second feed horns, and wherein the second feed horn pair produces a RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a switching device that selectively activates and deactivates the first and third feed horns and connects and disconnects the feed horns to and from the RF comparator, such that when the first feed horn is activated, the third feed horn is inactive and vice-versa, and when the first feed horn is connected to the RF comparator the third feed horn is disconnected from the RF comparator and vice-versa;

wherein the selective activation of the first and third feed horns steers the polarized monopulse RADAR beam emitted from the array of RADAR feed horn pairs by moving the phase center of the polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the second horn pair.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a set of wires disposed along a face of the feed horn array, wherein the set of wires includes at least two wires aligned along the planar direction, such that the wires narrow the beamwidth of the RADAR beam, and wherein said wires are cross-polarized to the beam polarization direction.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the switching device includes a commutative switching network.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the commutative switching network includes at least one radio-frequency circulator operatively connected to the radio-frequency comparator.

22. An apparatus for electronically steering a polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horns in a planar direction defined by at least two co-planar, similarly polarized, stacked feed horn pairs, the apparatus comprising:

A radio-frequency (RF) comparator;

a first feed horn pair comprising a first and a second feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in a plane orthogonal to the planar direction, and similarly polarized, and wherein the first feed horn pair produces a polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a second feed horn pair comprising a third and a fourth feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the third and fourth feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar to each-other in a plane orthogonal to the planar direction, and similarly polarized to the first and second feed horns, wherein the second feed horn pair is adjacent to the first feed horn pair and co-planar to the first feed horn pair in the planar direction, and wherein the second feed horn pair produces a polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a switching device that selectively activates and de-activate the first and second feed horn pairs and connect and disconnect the feed horns of each feed horn pair to and from the RF comparator, such that when the first feed horn pair is activated and connected to the RF comparator, the second feed horn pair is inactive and disconnected from the RF comparator, and vice-versa;

wherein the selective activation of the first and second feed horn pairs steers the polarized monopulse RADAR beam emitted from the array of RADAR feed horn pairs by moving the phase center of the polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the second horn pair.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a set of wires disposed along a face of the feed horn array, wherein the set of wires includes at least two wires aligned along the planar direction, such that the wires narrow the beamwidth of the RADAR beam, and wherein said wires are cross-polarized to the beam polarization direction.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the switching device includes a commutative switching network.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the commutative switching network includes at least two radio-frequency circulators operatively connected to the radio-frequency comparator.

26. An apparatus for dual-plane electronic beam steering of a polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horns in two planar directions, wherein the first planar direction is a planar direction defined by at least three co-planar, similarly polarized feed horns and the second planar direction is orthogonal to the first planar direction, the apparatus comprising:

a radio-frequency (RF) comparator;

a first feed horn pair including a first feed horn and a second feed horn, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the first planar direction, and similarly polarized, and wherein the first feed horn pair produces a polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a second feed horn pair including a third feed horn and the second feed horn, wherein the third feed horn is adjacent to the second feed horn and co-planar and similarly polarized with respect to the first and second feed horns, and wherein the second feed horn pair produces a polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a third feed horn pair comprising a fifth and a fourth feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the fifth and fourth feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the first planar direction, and similarly polarized with respect to the first, second and third feed horns, and further wherein the third feed horn pair is adjacent and similarly polarized to the first feed horn pair and co-planar to the first feed horn pair in the second planar direction, and wherein the third feed horn pair produces a polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a first switching device that selectively activates and de-activates the first and third feed horn pairs and connects and disconnect the feed horns of the first and third feed horn pair to and from the RF comparator, such that when the first feed horn pair is activated and connected to the RF comparator, the third feed horn pair is inactive and disconnected from the RF comparator, and vice-versa,

wherein the selective activation of the first and third feed horn pairs steers the polarized monopulse RADAR beam emitted from the array of RADAR feed horn pairs in the second planar direction by moving the phase center of the polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to thee phase center of the third horn pair;

a second switching device that selectively activates and deactivates the first and third feed horns and connects and disconnects the first and third feed horns to and from the RF comparator, such that when the first feed horn is activated, the third feed horn is inactive and vice-versa, and when the first feed horn is connected to the RF comparator the third feed horn is disconnected from the RF comparator and vice-versa,

wherein the selective activation of the first and third feed horns steers the polarized monopulse RADAR beam emitted from the array of RADAR feed horn pairs in the first planar direction by moving the phase center of the polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the second horn pair; and

a third switching device that manages the connection and activation of feed horns such that only one feed horn pair is allowed to be active and connected to the comparator during RADAR beam emission.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first, second, and third switching devices comprise a commutative switching network.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the commutative switching network includes at least three radio-frequency circulators operatively connected to the radio-frequency comparator.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising a set of wires disposed along a face of the feed horn array, wherein the set of wires includes at least three wires aligned along the first planar direction, such that the wires narrow the beamwidth of the RADAR beam, and wherein said wires are cross-polarized to the beam polarization direction.

30. An apparatus for dual-plane electronic beam steering of a first polarized monopulse RADAR beam and a second polarized monopulse RADAR beam across an array of RADAR feed horns in two orthogonal planar directions, wherein the first planar direction corresponds to the first beam polarization and the second planar direction corresponds to the second beam polarization and wherein the beam polarizations are also orthogonal, the apparatus comprising:

a first radio-frequency (RF) comparator;

a second RF comparator;

a first feed horn pair including a first feed horn and a second feed horn, wherein the first and second feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the first planar direction, and first polarized, and wherein the first feed horn pair produces a first polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a second feed horn pair including a third feed horn and the second feed horn, wherein the third feed horn is adjacent to the second feed horn, first polarized, and co-planar with respect to the first and second feed horns, and wherein the second feed horn pair produces a first polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a third feed horn pair comprising a fifth and a fourth feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the fifth and fourth feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the first planar direction, and first polarized, and further wherein the third feed horn pair is adjacent and co-planar to the first feed horn pair in the second planar direction, and wherein the third feed horn pair produces a first polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a fourth feed horn pair including a sixth feed horn and a seventh feed horn, wherein the sixth and seventh feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the second planar direction, and second polarized, and wherein the fourth feed horn pair produces a second polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a fifth feed horn pair including an eighth feed horn and the seventh feed horn, wherein the eighth feed horn is adjacent to the seventh feed horn, second polarized, and co-planar with respect to the sixth and seventh feed horns, and wherein the fifth feed horn pair produces a second polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a sixth feed horn pair comprising a ninth and a tenth feed horn in the feed horn array, wherein the ninth and tenth feed horns are mutually adjacent, co-planar in the second planar direction, and second polarized, and further wherein the sixth feed horn pair is adjacent and co-planar to the fourth feed horn pair in the first planar direction, and wherein the sixth feed horn pair produces a second polarized monopulse RADAR beam from its phase center when both of its feed horns are activated;

a first switching device that selectively activates and de-activates the first and third feed horn pairs and connects and disconnect the feed horns of the first and third feed horn pair to and from the first RF comparator, such that when the first feed horn pair is activated and connected to the first RF comparator, the third feed horn pair is inactive and disconnected from the first RF comparator, and vice-versa,

wherein the selective activation of the first and third feed horn pairs steers the first polarized monopulse RADAR beam emitted from the array of RADAR feed horn pairs in the second planar direction by moving the phase center of the first polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the third horn pair;

a second switching device that selectively activates and deactivates the first and third feed horns and connects and disconnects the first and third feed horns to and from the first RF comparator, such that when the first feed horn is activated, the third feed horn is inactive and vice-versa, and when the first feed horn is connected to the first RF comparator the third feed horn is disconnected from the first RF comparator and vice-versa,

wherein the selective activation of the first and third feed horns steers the first polarized monopulse RADAR beam emitted from the array of RADAR feed horn pairs in the first planar direction by moving the phase center of the first polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the first horn pair to the phase center of the second horn pair;

a third switching device that selectively activates and de-activates the fourth and sixth feed horn pairs and connects and disconnect the feed horns of the fourth and sixth feed horn pair to and from the second RF comparator, such that when the fourth feed horn pair is activated and connected to the second RF comparator, the sixth feed horn pair is inactive and disconnected from the second RF comparator, and vice-versa,

wherein the selective activation of the fourth and sixth feed horn pairs steers the second polarized monopulse RADAR beam emitted from the array of RADAR feed horn pairs in the first planar direction by moving the phase center of the second polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the fourth horn pair to the phase center of the sixth horn pair;

a fourth switching device that selectively activates and deactivates the sixth and eighth feed horns and connects and disconnects the sixth and eighth feed horns to and from the second RF comparator, such that when the sixth feed horn is activated, the eighth feed horn is inactive and vice-versa, and when the sixth feed horn is connected to the second RF comparator the eighth feed horn is disconnected from the second RF comparator and vice-versa,

wherein the selective activation of the sixth and eighth feed horns steers the second polarized monopulse RADAR beam emitted from the array of RADAR feed horn pairs in the second planar direction by moving the phase center of the second polarized RADAR beam emitted from the feed horn array from the phase center of the fourth horn pair to the phase center of the horn pair;

a fifth switching device that manages the connection and activation of the first, second, and third feed horn pairs to the first RF comparator such that only one feed horn pair is allowed to be active and connected to the first RF comparator during first polarized monopulse RADAR beam emission; and

a sixth switching device that manages the connection and activation of the fourth, fifth, and sixth feed horn pairs to the second RF comparator such that only one feed horn pair is allowed to be active and connected to the second RF comparator during second polarized monopulse RADAR beam emission.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising a wire grid disposed along a face of the feed horn array, wherein the wire grid includes:

at least a two second polarized wires aligned in the first planar direction, such that the second polarized wires narrow the beamwidth of the first polarized RADAR beam; and

at least two first polarized wires aligned in the second planar direction, such that the first polarized wires narrow the beamwidth of the second polarized RADAR beam.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first, second, and fifth switching devices comprise a first commutative switching network and further wherein the third, fourth, and sixth switching devices comprise a second commutative switching network.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the first commutative switching network includes at least three radio-frequency circulators operatively connected to the first RF comparator and further wherein the second commutative switching network includes at least three radio-frequency circulators operatively connected to the second RF comparator.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, further comprising a seventh switching device that:

controls the first and second switching networks such that the feed horns in the RADAR feed horn array are activated in four-horn clusters comprising a first-polarized feed horn pair and a second-polarized feed horn pair; and

coordinates the first and second switching networks such that the first and second switching networks both steer in the same planar direction at the same time.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising an eighth switching device that:

changes the switching network connections such that the first-polarized feed horns are governed and steered by the second switching network and the second-polarized feed horns are governed and steered by the first switching network, thereby allowing beam steering across overlapping four-horn clusters that are not co-planar in either the first or second planar directions.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the seventh and eighth switching devices comprise a control switching network.

37. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first polarization is a vertical polarization and the second polarization is a horizontal polarization.

38. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first planar direction is the horizontal direction and the second planar direction is the vertical direction.

39. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the feed horns in the array of RADAR feed horns are dielectrically loaded.

40. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the feed horns in the array of RADAR feed horns are made of Rexolite.

41. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the feed horns in the array of RADAR feed horns are diagonal feed horns.

42. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising a Cassegrain reflector that focuses and directs the emitted RADAR beams.

43. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the apparatus includes at least part of a target location or acquisition system on a guided munition.