Antenna and Receiver
Figure 1: Nose radar parabolic dish versus
phased array antenna
There are two different types of nose-mounted antenna. One is a parabolic dish and the other is a flat „phased array” (or plate) system. Both are in widespread use but the flat phased array system is more commonly found than the parabolic antennas.
It is common for the antenna inside the aircraft's nose to rotate from side to side (perhaps covering a maximum azimuth of between 120 to180 degrees - although this is very much dependent of the implementation).