ABSTRACT
An electronically scanned array (ESA) provides a significant advantage over its predecessors via beam agility. The inherent advantages of an ESA are enabled through architectures that have active components distributed throughout the front end of the system. This chapter presents a method to calculate the mean time between failures by using a brute force technique and also using the binomial function. It shows that the effects of failures on the sidelobes of both a one-dimensional linear array and a two-dimensional array. The chapter deals with an approximation of the effect that transmit and receive module failures have on the radar range equation. One of the advantages of distributing the modules throughout the system is a graceful degradation of the performance over time. The probability of all the modules failing at the same time is low. As the failures occur, the sidelobe levels rise while the gain generally drops.
