A Deterministic Approach to the Synthesis of Pencil Beams Through Planar Thinned Arrays

Abstract

Abstract-This paper presents a simple and innovative deterministic approach to the synthesis of uniformly excited thinned arrays able to fulfill constraints concerning both the sidelobe level and the value of the radiated far field (and/or of the directivity) in a set of given directions. Starting from a reference regular (periodic or even aperiodic) lattice and from an optimal continuous reference source fulfilling at best the required specifications, the proposed approach finds out both the number and the location of the isophoric (i.e., equi-amplitude) radiating elements to withdraw in a fast and effective fashion. In fact, it is based on a deterministic best-fitting procedure which takes inspiration from existing density taper techniques. Examples are provided with reference to the synthesis of large circular arrays and confirm the interest of the proposed procedure.

Circular-Ring Antenna Arrays Being at the Same Time Sparse, Isophoric, and Phase-Only Reconfigurable: Optimal Synthesis via Continuous Aperture Sources

“…Being at the same time isophoric and phase-only reconfigurable, the achieved solutions grant at the same time all the advantages of the antennas designed in [3,10,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

Satellite Multibeam Coverage of Earth: Innovative Solutions and Optimal Synthesis of Aperture Fields

“…The extreme effectiveness of this coverage scheme is guaranteed by the well-known Four Colors Theorem, which establishes that "any map in a plane can be colored using four colors in such a way that regions sharing a common boundary (other than a single point) do not share the same color" [7]. In particular, while three is the minimum number of different channels which can be used in any reuse scheme [5,6], four is a very common choice [8][9][10][11]. .…”

“…Whatever the choice of the final antenna, the identification of a continuous aperture source [8] fulfilling 'at best' the required specifications allows to a-priori ascertain the ultimate achievable radiation performance and represents also a 'reference solution' for the optimal synthesis of sparse [9], thinned [10], and clustered [11] Direct Radiating Arrays (DRA).…”

“…. Basically, the mission aims at maximizing the antenna directivity inside the spot marked with * subject to sidelobe upper bounds inside the spots marked with • [8][9][10][11].…”

“…Once such a mission scenario is defined, the problem can be formulated as that of synthesizing an antenna able to maximize the minimum guaranteed directivity inside the coverage zone while ensuring an adequate Carrier-to-Interference ratio (C/I) or Sidelobe Level (SLL) performance in each beam [4,[8][9][10][11]. Whatever the choice of the final antenna, the identification of a continuous aperture source [8] fulfilling 'at best' the required specifications allows to a-priori ascertain the ultimate achievable radiation performance and represents also a 'reference solution' for the optimal synthesis of sparse [9], thinned [10], and clustered [11] Direct Radiating Arrays (DRA).…”