The planar array radar is a type of radar that uses a high-gain planar array

Planar array

In telecommunications and radar, a planar array is an antenna in which all of the elements, both active and parasitic, are in one plane. A planar array provides a large aperture and may be used for directional beam control by varying the relative phase of each element...

 antenna

Antenna (radio)

An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...

.

Operation

A fixed delay is established between horizontal arrays in the elevation plane. As the frequency

Frequency

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...

 is changed, the phase front across the aperture

Aperture

In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...

 tends to tilt, with the result that the beam is moved in elevation. The differing frequencies cause each successive beam to be elevated slightly more than previous beams. A 27.5 degree elevation is scanned by the radar.

Advantages

• Each beam group has full transmitter
  Transmitter
  In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
  
   peak power
  Electric power
  Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
  
  , full antenna gain
  Antenna gain
  In electromagnetics, an antenna's power gain or simply gain is a key performance figure which combines the antenna's directivity and electrical efficiency. As a transmitting antenna, the figure describes how well the antenna converts input power into radio waves headed in a specified direction...
  
  and full antenna sidelobe performance.
• The use of frequency changes allows economical, simple and reliable inertialess elevation scanning.