Designers of the Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Radio Engineering (NNIRT) have developed a folding emitter for a meter-band phased array antenna. Thanks to this innovation, a large radar antenna will become more compact without reducing its working aperture.

In the operating position, the structure forms two polarizations – vertical and horizontal. For this purpose, two emitters with vibrators and reflectors are used, located perpendicular to each other.

The main feature is that one of the emitters can be rotated by 90 degrees. When the station is moved to the transport position, it folds along the antenna structure, which reduces its transverse dimensions.

Moreover, the developers have already manufactured a batch of such elements and applied them in a real phased array antenna. In the folded state, the width of the emitter does not exceed the width of the antenna array column itself.