1960

CONCLL-SIONS

but i t is probable that the sidelobe level in the radiation pattern of a short Yagi antenna ma>- be improved
by this method; the impro\:ement may not be as good
as i n the case of longYagi antennas. This method of
tapering. although applied here to the particular case
of longYagi antennas, ma>- be utilized i n the case of
other long end-fire antennas of traveling-wave type.

From the above investigation,it may be said t h a t bJusingalinearvariation

of thepropagationconstant
along the length of a longYagi antenna, the sidelobe
level i n the radiation pattern maybe inlproved considerab]), without reducing appreciabl!. the gain obtainable
from the antenna. Thisincreases the possibilitJ- of using
such a11 antenna for directional reception, particularly
-4CKKOIj-LEDGXfEST
i n radar and radio-astronomical applications. The approximate theor)- as given above is able to explain the
The author wishes to express his thanks to Prof. G.
action of tapering with an amountof accuracy sufficient Sinclair for the encouragement received from him a t all
for practical purposes. Since the tapering function is re- times, and to Prof. J . L. Yen for ~ n a n ydiscussions and
quired to be a \:cry slowly-varying function of the an- suggestions during the course of this research. Thanks
tenna length, the method can be applied advantageousl\vare alsoacknowledged to theSinclairRadioLaboraonly to long Yagi antennas. Theeffect of tapering in the tories for allowing the author to use their antenna patcase of short Yagi antennas has not been investigated, tern recorder.

Design of Circular Apertures for Narrow Beamwidth

and Low Sidelobes*
T. T. TAYLORf

Summary-This article extends a method of antenna design described in an earlier article' by the same author.A family of continuous circular aperture distributions is developed in such a way as to
involve only
independent parameters, A , a quantity uniquely rea number controlling the delated to the design sidelobe level and
gree of uniformity of the sidelobes. An asymptotic approach to the
condition of uniform sidelobes thus becomes possible. A companion
article by Robert Hansen contains aperture distribution tables and
examples.

of sidelobe reduction i n circular aperture antennas. X

recent commentary? blr Jacquinot reveals that the corresponding problem in the diffraction of light, known
as "apodization," has also become important to optical
astronomers and spectroscopists and that a considerable
volume of research on this problenl has been undertaken.
Of particular interest are the
xvorks of Osterberg and
\Vilkins3 and Dossier,4 a student of Jacquinot. For distributionfu~~ctions,theseauthors proposesuperposiIKTKODCCTIOS
tions of certain component functions whose individual
H E advent of maserandparametric
low-noise diffraction patternsare well known andtheproblem
amplifiers has, for many radio astrollom>-, scatter becomes one of ascertaining what requirements to irncommunications,andradarapplications,made
pose upon the total diffraction patterns, given that they
the antenna a major noise source with a typical noise mustbecompounded
of partial patterns of a certain
temperature several times that
of the amplifier. This type. This point of view is probably better known in
troublesome situation, together with the long-standing
the antenna field because of the work of Woodward.j I n
clutter return problem, makes urgent the consideration anyevent,someverv
good examples of apodization
have been reported. The method of the present article
is somewhat different in t h a t a certain arrangement of
Manuscript received by the PGAP, hlarch16, 1959;revised
manuscript received, July 8, 1959. The nork reported in this article
was performed at the Hughes .qircraft Co. and has been described in
J. Strong, "Concepts of Classical Optics," \V. H. Freeman and
somewhat greater detail in Hughes
.Aircraft Co. Tech. Memo. S o . CO., pp. 410-418; 1958.
3i2 dated .August 30, 1951. The xvork was partially supported by the
H. Osterber$ and J. E. \\-ilkins, Jr., ' T h e resolving power of a
- A F Cambridge Res. C. under Contract AF 19(604)-262.
coated objective, J . Opt.
vol. 39, pp. 553-557; July, 1949.
LTniversity of California, Riverside; formerly with Hughes AirB. Dossier. "Recherches sur I'apodization des images optiques,"
craft Co., Culver City, Calif.
Rez. Opt., YOI. 3 3 , pp. 57-111,147-178,267-296,
and 552; 1954.
T. T. Taylor, "Design of line-source antennas for narrow beamP. M. \Yoodward, "-1method of calculating the field over a
width and
sidelobes," IRE TRASS. ASTEXSAS ASD PROPAGA-plane aperture required t o produce a given polar diagram," J. IEE,
TIOX, vol. AP-3, pp. 16-28; January, 1955.
vol. 93, pp. 155-1558; 1936.

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:043 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.

January
zeros in the total pattern, chosen with due regard for
thegeneralpropertieswhichthearrangementmust
possess, is first proposed and then a method, employed
by Dossier and similar to thatof Woodn-ard, is invoked
for the calculation of the distribution function. I t m a y
beremarkedthatthepracticalrealization
of optical
apodization in the general case is contingent upon the
successful construction of absorbing screens n-hich are
free from phase errors.
The concept of a circular aperture as a source of
radiation is, in the field of antenna theory, an outgrowth
of the analysisof that very commonconfiguration which
consists of a paraboloidal reflector and feed. If such a
device is completely enclosed bs; an imaginar): surface,
then, inprinciple,
it is merelynecessaqto
know
tangential E and H upon this surface in order to calculate the radiated fields. I t is customary to draw the surface in such a m a ~ that
r
it hasa large plane expanse just
in front of the antenna configuration and to suppose
that the tangentialfields are zero except within the circular area which is directly illuminated. This circular
area is regarded as the aperture.
I n this article i t will be assumed that, upon any small
element of the aperture, the fields are identical in character with those which would be found in a n emerging
plane electromagnetic wave. I t is further assunled t h a t
the direction of polarization is the samefor all elements
b u t t h a t t h e field strength varies from place t o place,
perhaps in both amplitude and phase, and is proportional t o a distribution function
I). I t is not necessary, of course, that the device producing the fields actually be a reflector and feed; any device which genera circular areawould
ates fields of the type assumed over
come under the scope of this article.
Let the geometry of the aperture, which has radius a ,
be as illustratedinFig.
1. Theradiationpattern
in
power per unit solid angle is

Fig. 1-Geometry

of circular aperture.

of symmetry devolves upon the distribution function

only. -4 welland the latter becomes a function of
known Fourier expansion7 makesi t possible to write the
space factor as a Hankel transform:

s(e)

2 r k 2 1 u p g ( p ) J o ( k p sinelap.

(2)

I t n-ill be advantageous to introducenew variables as

foll0n.s:

p-

(3)

a
2a sin 0

The quantity
will be Itnown as a standard beamwidth; the beamwidth (in radians) between half-power
points for a uniformly illuminated circular aperture is
1.029 standard beamwidths. It is interesting to recall
thecorrespondingfigureforauniformlyilluminated
line source, 0.8859 standard beamwidth.
(2) becomes
\l;ith the substitution of (3) and

pg(p)Jo(pu)dp.

( 3

Here
whichisproportionalto(l+cos
is the
v d be dropped and the integral deobliquity factor .of aHuygenssource6and
is what The constant factors
would norm all^^ be called the element factor. The inte- noted F(
gral is called the space factor and,because of the broadness of the obliquity factor, the relationship betn-een the
F(U) ~ r 9 R ( P ) J a ( P z a ) d P .
(6)
beamwidth and sidelobe level of the space factor alone
will be adopted as the subject for discussion.
Eq. (6) expresses the basic relationship which
will be
I n ( l ) ,k is the free space wave number,
and
studied here.
is the angle measured between the observers direction
PROPERTIES
OF THE DISTRIBLTTIOK
FCNCTION
and the radius vector to the element
Since the
scope of this article will be restricted to those cases in
in the corresponding article on line sources, the
which the space factor has rotational sJ-mmetry about
variables p and are imbedded in the complex domains
the axis [an extension to certain othercases involving E and
respectively, such that i = p + i q and =u+iv.
a linear phase shift in
I) is obvious], the samet!-pe T h e visible range of the plane is the real segment
S. A. Schelkunoff. Electromagnetic IVaves, D. Van Nostrand
Co., Inc.,
Kew
York,
Y . , p. 354; 1943.
Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:043 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.

J. A. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory, 3,icGraw-HilI Book

Co., Inc., S e w York,
Y . ,p.

19

0 5 ZL 5 2 a j X and a unit distance i n the z plane corresponds t o one standard beamn-idth. An observer who
travelsaroundtheaperturetoexamineitsradiation
pattern will cover all real angles in
the range O < ~ _ < T .
This coverage is translatedtwiceintothepointset
O < Z L <2a/X, = 0 , in the z plane by the relationship
zt=?a(sin 0j/h as shown graphically in Fig. 2 . The profile of F(zj on the visible range is the only part of F(zj
lvhich enters into the formationof the radiation pattern.
I t is evident from Fig. 2 that the space factor attains the
same value a t T - 0 as i t does a t 0 ; the total radiation
pattern is not "double-endedl" hou-e\ler,for the obliquity
factor nullifies the rearward beam.
Consider,now,the
plane.Theintegral in (6) becomes the limit as T tends to zero of the integral along
the path C of Fig. 3 , beginning a t zero and foIloLving the
axis of reals to T
T h e reason for the limitingprocess
will be made evident later. Eq. (6j becomes

~ ( z ) lim
7-0

lq

I t is assumed at the outset that g(E) can be writteu

as the product.
g(E)

h(Q(r'

t')";

real and

1.

(8)

The quantity(x?-E')" is regarded as havingits priucipal

value i n t h a t region of the 4 plane which remains after
the latter is cut from
t o -T and from T to a along
the axis of reals. The function h ( E ) is supposed to be
? T , and regular i n the raceeven, nonvanishing a t
track shaped region X of Fig. 3, the ends of which have
a radius
0. Singularities of /I,(.$), therefore, may be
arbitrarill- close to the real line segrnent - T < Q ~ T b u t
ma\' not fall esactlJ- upon it; the only singularity actually permitted i n the distribution function is the one
lvhich must necessarily occur when this function ceases
to exist phJ-sically for values of P > T and which corresponds to the branch point at= T i n (8). I t is considered necessary that a be greater than or equal to zero
for physically
realizable
distributions:
nevertheless?
1 and zero \\-ill be included for
values of a bet\\-een
completeness since F(zj exists even for these values.
Care should be taken not to
confuse the E plane of
Fig. 3 n-ith the xy plane of Fig. 1. The function
cj
which is defined on the real x y (or p [ ) plane is a surface
of revolution formed by rotating
about the axis.
The function
or g(pj, however, is obtained by taking
the profile of h ( $ ) ( T ? - ( ? ) ~ 011 the real axis of the complex plane.Thustheplane
is amathematical COIZstructfrom which thefunction g(p) is derived;this
function is then rotated in the real xy plane to give the
actual distribution function.
The fact that the singularitiesof h(:j are not limited
as to number andcan be arbitrarilyclose to the real line
SegmeIlt just nlentioned gives the function g({j enough
flexibilitl;,'in the author's opinion, to make i t representative of anyaperturedistributiolllikelytobeenAuthorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:043 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.

Fig. 3-Contour

of integration i n complex

plane.

countered in practice. The postulate of the evenness oi

is no essentialhandicaphere
sillce theradius oi
curvature at the origin can be made arbitraril!. small:
the fact that
sucharadiusdoesexist,however:prccludesthe possibilit!? of asingularit>-beinggenerated
as g(pj is rotated about the w axis i n the .x>' plane.

h(:!

PROPERTIES
o b - T H E S P ~ I CF;.IC-TOI<
E
Given that the distribution functionis in accord with
the mathematical model just described and following a
procedure analogous to thatemplo).ed earlier,' i t is e x \ to prove thatF ( z j is an even entire functionof ivith the
follon-ing asymptotic forms for large 2 :

1.5

a\

TRANSBCTIOSS
IRE

20

0:Y A:YTE:\NAS

I t is interesting to compare the asymptotic forms of

F ( z ) for the line source and for the circular aperture.

Table I makes this comparison for integral values of CY

and for z in the right-half plane. From Fig. 2 , the righthalf plane forms are obviouslysufficient for making predictions concerning the radiation pattern.

AiVD PROPAGATION

January

central zeros, the scheme used for line sources

will be
employed again. This scheme permits the space factor
function F ( z ) to
approach
the
ideal
function
cos
n d z ? - - d ? as a certain parameter
is increased; it involves
setting a finite number of the central zeros of F ( z ) equal
to the corresponding zerosof the function,

TABLE I
COMPARISON
OF ASYMPTOTIC FORXS
OF F(z) FOR LISE
SOURCE AXD CIRCULAR
APERTURE
Asymptotic Form of F ( z ) , Re
Line Source

which, for u slightly greater than unity,is a n ideal function with slight horizontal dilation.
rZ set of points on the axis of reals, hereafter designated as the p points, will now be defined. T h e definition of p n ,the nth such point, is simply

Circular Aperture

The points are counted in the order of increasing value

andareshown
in Table 11. Evidently p,,--fn+$ as
from the well-known asymptoticformula for

TABLE I1
3

cos r z
/z(T)(~T))(~)

k(r)(2~).)(6)
COS

T(Z

1/4)

SOLUTIONS OF

JI(T%)

, A

When a is an integer, asin Table I , the results agree

with those of Dossier who predicts the relationship between the asymptotic form of F ( z ) and the value of the
at the edge of the
first nonvanishing derivative of
aperture.
As withlinesources,
the decay rate of the remote
sidelobes is dependent on117 on the behavior of the distribution function at the edge of the aperture. It is ala
ways greater for the circular aperture, however, by
factor of
if the a values are the same.
Finally, i t ispossible to prove that if the zeros of
F ( z ) are grouped in pairs, *zl,
etc., and numbered
in such a way that the moduliof successive pairs do not
decrease, then the membersof the nth zero pair tend to
n tends to infinity.
the positions 5 (n+a/2+1/4) as
Thisstatementshouldbecomparedwiththecorresponding one for line sources i n which the members of
t h e n t h zero pair tend to the positions
f (n+cu/2).

DESIGNOF

PRACTICAL
CIRCULAR
APERTURE

1
2
3
4
5
6

7
8
9
10

0
1.2196699
2.2331306
3.2383154
4.2410628
5.2427643
6.2439216
7.2447598
8.2453948
9.2458927
10.2462933

J1(m).I t is also evident that if a n even entire function

has its zeros positioned in such a way t h a t t h e nth zero
pair approaches k p , , a s n-+
i t will be an acceptable
space factor functioning with an
a value of zero.The
reason for introducing the p points is not obvious now
but will become so later.
T h e zeros of (12) lie at the points,

Let the dilation factoru be chosen so that eventually

one of these zeros falls on a specifically chosen p point,
Then

DISTRIBUTION
FUNCTION
As waspointedoutintheearlierarticle
on line
sources, essentiaI1y two areas of flexibility are available
T h e plan is now to construct an entire function with
in regard to the form of F ( z ) . These are 1) the value of
a and 2) the placement of the central zeros, that is, the the following zeros:
zeros near the origin in the plane. I t is possible to draw
the same conclusions as before, namely, t h a t for highly
directive patterns, a should equal zero (this gives the
distribution a pedestal), and that the centralzeros a s
well as the remote zeros of F ( z ) should be simple zeros This function, normalized so as to have unit value at
on the axis of reals. For choosing the positions of the the origin,is a s follows:

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:043 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.

?2

.,I, r?j

2J1(az) *--l

G2[.d2

(JZ

1/2,]

(17)

Pn?

This expression.
a t w o - p a r a m e t e r f a m i l y of entire
functions whose menzbers a.pproach the (nornzalized) ideal
space factor, cos T ~ / z ~ - ~ ~ ? /TcAo, sarbitrarily
~
exactly
a s is increased. The value of
which is finite in any
practicalcase, is of considerable significance. In rela$-pn divide theregion
tionship to the pattern, the points
of uniform sidelobes 14 < p e j from the region of deca).ing sidelobes
where here, as before, z =
As is increased, theregion of unifornl sidelobes extends
farther out from the main beam. In the region of u n form sidelobes the lobes actuallJ- decrease slightll; asz f ,
increasesandtheirinitial
level is veryslightlJ- lovver
( t h a t is: better) than thedesign level 7. This design sidelobe ratio is relatedtoas
follows:

cosh T-4,

(18)

the invisiblesidelobe energ!- andisuper-gainingthe

aperture.
The beamwidth of the ideal space factor (in terms of
standard beamwidths) is a function of the sidelobe ratio
7 only. I t is given rigorously as follon-s:

7T

This relationship is illustrated graphically i n Fig. 7 i n

Taylor. From what has been said before, i t is evident
that this beamwidth cannot be equalled without either
1j allo\ving to become infinite or S j making the visible
zeros of the given space factor coincide with,or perhaps
fall within, those of the ideal space factor and accepting
high in\:isible lobes at the inevitable transition regions
which tvill separate the visiblezerosfrom
the remote
zeros. Both of thesealternativesresult
i n super-gain
apertures. For ii finite, the beamwidth of an F ( e , :I, A )
space factor is given by the following extremely good
approximation

which is the same asin the case of line sources since the
same ideal space factor is approached i n either case.
T h e chief disparit!. between the practical pattern and
the ideal is i n the beamwidth which is greater than the
THE:INVERSETRANSFORM
ideal by a factor almost exactly equal to u. However, n
I n calculating the distribution function g ( p j to give
does not have to be very large to make
u only a few
the space factor F ( z , .-I, -iij, the method of Dossier will
per cent greater than unity.
To sumnlarize.themembers
of thepattern famil?- be used. Let the distribution function g ( p j be built out
of functions of the form Jo(p,p). I n other words,
F ( z : -4,ti) have two independent characteristics:
T h e design sidelobe ratio, 7.
2) The boundary of the region of approximately uniform sidelobes, p e , which depends directly upon
R , an integer.

Once these two parameters have been chosen, the pattern, the distribution function, and
all other relevant
data may be calculated. In selecting A , it is essential to
avoidvalues
thataretoosmall;thechangefrom
F l ( e , -411 t o Fie, -4,
inwhich
thetrans+% zeros The integrali n (22) is vie11 known8 and given by
migrate to the p-points! must be such that the spacing
never increases betweenany of these zeros. In order that
this condition be fulfilled, A must be chosen such
that
a unitincreases i n
doesnotincrease u. Practically,
thisselectionmeansforaspacefactorwith
a design
sidelobe ratio of 30 d b , must be a t least 3 and that
for a designsideloberatio
of 40 db. i t must be a t
least 4. Apart fromthislimitation,onehasconsiderable liberty in the choice of
large values make u more
nearlyequaltounity,therebysharpeningthebeam:
The above expression is an even function of
with a
i n thisway
however,theadditionalbenefitobtained
zero
a
t
every
p
point
except
a
t
i
p
m
,
a
t
which
points
it
soon becomes negligible as increases. If ti is increased
attains
the
value,
so a s t o place p n \\-ell beJrond the endpoint of the visible
range ( S a j X j , the effect is to make all the visible sidelobes uniform. Further increase of ti has little influence
E. Jahnke and P. Emde, Tables of Functions, Dover Publicaupon the visible pattern but has the effect of increasing tions, Kew York. N. p.

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:043 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.

IRE TRANSACTIO;YS

22
lim

7ruJo(7rpm)Jl(7rU)
242

O A V

7r2

[Jo(PpM)12.

J u s t a s i n the Woodward method, then, the pattern

a superposition of functions
Tc

F(21)

m=o

ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION

nuJl(nu)
D~JO(W~J
212

(25)
is

(26)

pm2

Each of these functions has its principalmaxima(or

maximum, in thecase of
at the points
+pm,
pointswhicharezerosfor
all the other functions. I t
follows then, that

January

Since these numbers (and hence the

0,)vanish for
m W , i t is clearthat g(p) will actuallybegivenby
a
finite sum. In other words, no Bessel component of the
form J o ( p M p ) with m212 can appear in the distribution
function; such components would generate partial patterns
having
principal
maxima
a t points
for
which t h e
total pattern, according to (16), is supposed to be zero.
T h u s g(p) is

The article by Hansen which follo~vsg contains tables

of this function for a variety of parameter values together with illustrated examples.
ACIUITOTtTLEDGXENT

F ( p m ) means F ( p m , -4, as
In the present situation,
given by (17). T h e process of setting e equal to p m in
this equation, however, is complicated by the presence
of removable singularities at all the points for which
m
A t m = 0 , the singular factoris J l ( s r z ) / m and for
O<nz<s, it is J l ( n z ) / ( l - z 2 j p n z 2 )These
.
can be evaluated by well-known methods and the results are

The writer is happy to acknowledge the cooperation,

bothpastandpresent,
whichhehasreceivedfrom
members of the technical staff of the Hughes Aircraft
Company. He is especially indebted to Dr. Robert S.
Elliott who checked the manuscript
of Technical Memorandum KO. 372 very carefully and thereby contributed
materially to the accuracyof that presentation and, indirectly, to that of the present article.
R. C. Haysen, "Tables of Taylor distributions for circular aperture antennas, this issue,
p. 23.

Ilt

In

#m

Authorized licensd use limted to: IE Xplore. Downlade on May 10,2 at 19:043 UTC from IE Xplore. Restricon aply.

72