I'm interested in mesh networking of poorly controllable autonomous aerial vehicles (like blimps), so i wonder whether it is viable to use a phased antenna array versus a few traditional directional antennas (say, Yagi-Uda) directed with RC servos, to communicate between ground and other aerial vehicles, that use solar+battery power. AFAIU, GHz-range amplifiers aren't really efficient, and phase shifting may be challenging, but i'm getting lost in the marketing speak when i'm trying to understand whether there are new developments in this area.
The question is not about the theoretical limits of the phased arrays, but about the state-of-the-art hardware and technologies available to a hobbyist.