Contents I. Introduction
Space-based phased array technology for Ka and above band has been pursued almost 30 years [1]. The prime intended application was for spaceborne radar, airborne satellite communication terminals, satellite communication and cross links. A highly integrated proposal was a better choice for affordability for antenna systems with hundreds or several thousand elements on spacecrafts. Therefore, there has an increasing feeling on the Highly Integrated Phased Array Antenna (HIPAA) at mm-wave band for space applications [2]. The design of mm-wave arrays on spacecrafts must simultaneously consider all of the requirements, such as the mechanical structure, thermal management, size constraints, module complexity and testability, cost, hermeticity, MMIC or chip design, array calibration proposals, etc., since the circuits, cooling systems, structure and array control all must complete for the same small half-wavelength spaces to avoid grating lobes [1]. To meet all of the requirements of the simultaneous design, the first factor should be considered by array designer or the design team is to select an appropriate architecture for the array according to given constraints and the variety and interoperability of available components [3]. This is because that the choices of architecture may completely alter the design, the packaging, and the function of the array [3]. This paper presents a hybrid array architecture of space-based highly integrated phased array antenna and gives a design demonstrator of Ka-band HIPAA with the architecture.
