Simplified Rectangular Planar Array With Circular Boundary for Side Lobe Suppression

Abstract

The thinning methods were usually used to simplify the array complexity by turning off some of the radiating elements in large planar arrays which lead to unavoidable reduction in the directivity. In this paper, an alternative method is used to simplify the array complexity by partitioning a large array into two contiguous subarrays. The first subarray is in circular planar shape in which its elements are uniformly excited, while the second subarray in which its elements surround the circular subarray, and they have significant impacts on the array radiation features and are chosen to be adaptive. The desired radiation characteristics are then obtained by optimizing only the adaptive elements which are far less than the total number of the original array elements. Since the majority of the elements in the proposed array are uniformly excited, its directivity and taper efficiency are found very close to that of the benchmark solutions. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed array.

Analysis of Performance Improvement of Planar Antenna Arrays With Optimized Square Rings for Massive MIMO Applications

“…Other researchers suggested the use of the phase-only excitation method [9] to optimize the planar array elements. Recently, efficient methods for linear [10][11][12][13][14] and planar arrays [15][16][17][18] were suggested. In these methods only the side elements of the linear or planar arrays were adjusted during the optimization process to reach the required power pattern with desired nulls and sidelobe levels.…”

“…In these methods only the side elements of the linear or planar arrays were adjusted during the optimization process to reach the required power pattern with desired nulls and sidelobe levels. In all of the methods that were presented in [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], the total number of the adjustable side-elements was chosen beforehand at a certain value. Thus, the optimized power patterns were found satisfactory only when there are sufficient numbers of the adjustable elements to fulfill the required constraints.…”

“…The element excitations in terms of either amplitudes or phases of the outer sub-planar array are made adjustable and they are optimized to form the desired power pattern. In contrast to the previous methods [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], the number of the adjustable side-elements in the outer square rings is also made adaptive. This means that the optimization algorithm will optimally choose the required number of the adjustable outer-square rings.…”

A Method for Thinning Useless Elements in the Planar Antenna Arrays

“…Very recently, an elegant method was introduced and applied to the rectangular grid antennas with various boundary square-rings array [17]. This method is then extended to the rectangular planar arrays with circular boundaries for side-lobe suppression [18].…”

Rectangular Grid Antennas With Various Boundary Square-Rings Array

“…To simplify the implementation of large arrays, many of the redundant degrees-of-freedom (or variable array elements) could be removed from the optimization process without affecting the overall array performance [22]. Also, many other advantages can be obtained such as faster response, less vulnerability to the element failures, and less RF components.…”