Antenna Arrays

ANTENNA ARRAYS
Array Factor (1)

  ref  ref
H H f ( ,  ) E E f ( ,  )
n

f ( ,  )  am exp( jk o rm .rˆ)
m 1
Phased Array Antennas
 Each antenna element can be controlled
individually by phase or time delay.
 By changing the feeding it is possible to
construct a directive beam that can be
repositioned electronically.
 Amplitude control can be used for pattern
shaping
 The beam can be pointed to new direction,
narrowed or widened in microseconds.
 An array that has a main peak at a certain
angle can also have other peak values
depending on the spacing between the
antenna elements.
Grating Lobes
AF for uniform excitation:
f ( )  am exp( jmko d (u  uo ))
uo sin  o u sin 
AF will have a maximum when exponent is a multiple of 2
d
2 (sin   sin  o ) 2p

p
grating lobes will occur at: sin  p sin  o 
d
d 1
to avoid grating lobes: 
o 1  sin  o
8 element array with /d=1
and for uo=0.5 (scan angle of 30o)
300
uo=0 (broadside) uo=0.5 (scan angle of 30

degrees)
Mutual Coupling
 element pattern of the antenna changes
from its free space (isolated) value when
it is inserted into an array
 this coupling effect will be different for
each element of the array.
 it may be necessary to use the concept
of “active element pattern”
Element pattern of a dipole located as a center element
of a 7X9 array
Analysis Including Mutual Coupling
 In a strong mutual couping environment
array pattern = element pattern X array factor
does not work ! Solving the problem using
numerical methods is not practical.
 Therefore other effective methods are
needed to account for mutual coupling
effects.
Mutual Coupling (cont.)
 Finite Array Approach:
 Used for small and medium arrays.

 Active element pattern is calculated separately for
each element in the array.
 these patterns are added up to obtain the overall array
pattern.
 n 
Etot  Ei
i 1
may imply simultaneous solution of thousands of equations

 Infinite array assumption:
 For large arrays, the central elements that are
far away from edges are affected less
 infinite array concept can then be used
 It is assumed that for all elements the
currents are similar except for some complex
constants.
 When this approach is used, it is sufficient to
analyze only one element completely
For medium size arrays, the exact AEP

methods are difficult to use and average
AEP method yields in errors in
calculating the array pattern
For these arrays the combination of the
two methods are used to obtain more
accurate results for the array pattern
Array Blindness
• Direct consequence of mutual coupling

• Can result in complete cancellation of the
radiated beam at some scan angle
• Occurs when most of the central elements of the
array have reflection coefficients close to unity
Array Performance
• Array Lattice
• Array Bandwidth
• Differences Between Single Element and
Array Performances
• Amplitude Tapering For Sidelobe Level
Control
• Wide-Angle Impedance Matching (WAIM)
Array Performance
Array Lattice
The position of the array elements describes the
array lattice and there are basically three types for
planar arrays
Array Performance
Array Bandwidth
The bandwidth of the array depends on the

radiators, phase shifters, feeding networks etc.
Phase shifters and feeding networks possess error

transfer functions which grows with increasing
bandwidth.
The error analysis of the effect on the pattern will

determines the bandwidth.
Array Performance
Single Element and Array Performance
Due to the mutual coupling effects in the array
environment the single element performance
and the array performance of most antennas
are different
Array Performance
Amplitude Tapering for Sidelobe Level
Control
The amplitude tapering in the excitation of the
array elements determines the array sidelobe
level, array gain and the beamwidth.
Stronger tapering results in reduced sidelobe at

the expense of increased beamwidth and
reduced gain.
- Powers of cosine
- Taylor distributions
- Modified Sin u/u taper of Taylor
distributions
- Dolph-Chebyshev distributions
Array Performance
Modified Sinu/u taper of Taylor
Distributions
Array Performance
Dolph-Chebyshev Distributions
Is the optimum distribution in the sense of

narrowest beam for a given SLL
Sidelobes do not decay in amplitude.
The power of percentage in the main

beam varies with the number of elements
in the array for a given SL
Example of illumination coefficients and
array pattern for a 20 dB taper applied to a
16 element array
Array Performance
Wide-Angle Impedance Matching WAIM
Scan impedance is the impedance of an

element as a function of scan angle with all
elements excited with proper amplitude and
phase.
For wide scan angles another mismatch due
to the scan angle occurs.
WAIM techniques are used to overcome this
problem
- Transmission line region techniques
- Free space WAIM techniques
Array Performance
Wide-Angle Impedance Matching WAIM
Transmission Line Techniques

Passsive circuits to control higher order modes in
the aperture
- separate interconnections between the elements
- active tuning circuits
Free Space Techniques
- Reduced element spacing
- Dielectric slabs or dielectric sheets

Antenna Arrays

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ANTENNA ARRAYS

Array Factor (1)

uo=0 (broadside) uo=0.5 (scan angle of 30

 Used for small and medium arrays.

may imply simultaneous solution of thousands of equations

For medium size arrays, the exact AEP

• Direct consequence of mutual coupling

The bandwidth of the array depends on the

Phase shifters and feeding networks possess error

The error analysis of the effect on the pattern will

Stronger tapering results in reduced sidelobe at

Is the optimum distribution in the sense of

Sidelobes do not decay in amplitude.

The power of percentage in the main

Scan impedance is the impedance of an

Transmission Line Techniques

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