High Power Microwave Antennas: Beam Steering from a Directed Energy Perspective

High power antennas are a critical component in high power microwave systems. When integrating these antennas into the high power microwave systems, beam steering becomes an important part of the system's tactical utility. While low-power beam steering techniques have been widely used in the communication and radar industries, there are unique challenges system components must face when transitioning these conventional methods to high power operation such as breakdown and thermal handling. Due to these unique challenges, high power beam steering remains archaic compared to its conventional counterpart. However, beam steering techniques such as rotary joints, active electronically steered arrays, and phase shifters offer examples of what high power microwave systems hope to achieve. Recent advancements in bringing these components to high power using various high power operation techniques shows promise in achieving the level of beam steering seen in conventional applications.