CHAPTER 1

Comprehensive Background of Array

Antennas and Pattern Synthesis

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 CHAPTER 1

Comprehensive Background of Array Antennas and Pattern

Synthesis

It is well known that the array antennas are extensively used as they provide high

gain, directivity and desired pattern shapes easily. They are preferred over discrete

antennas in both ground borne and air borne radar applications.

Pencil beam antennas [1-20] are highly directive antennas which generate one main

lobe. The main lobe lies within a cone of small solid angle and it is circularly

symmetrical about the direction of maximum radiation. Conventionally, the antennas

whose main half power beam width is less than 15° are called as the pencil beam

antennas. Such beams are analogous to search light beams. The beams of such

antennas are extensively used to obtain the range information and position of a target

completely.

The above nientioned beams are conventionally generated from a primary point

source antenna located at the focus of a reflector. Such a system produces a beam of

parallel rays. In other words, reflector in association with the primary antenna

converts spherical wave front into a planar wave front. In these antennas, the term

aperture is introduced frequently which is nothing but the projected area of the

reflector on a plane, normal to the optical axis. In a rotationally symmetrical system, it

is circular in shape. The pattern characteristics of these antennas contain not only a

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major lobe but also minor lobes. The minor lobes are generated as a result of

diffraction of the rays.

The advantages of Microwaves become strongly evident in the design of the

pencil-beam antennas. The microwave antennas are used to obtain highly directive

beams. They are useful to obtain large gain, precision direction finding and angular

resolution radars. Very sharp beams require highly involved scanning operation and

the scanning time is limited in practice. Such problems are simplified if the required

scanning speed is reduced to only one direction. The angular region is covered by

fanning the beam broadly. Fan-beam antennas are characterized by the radiation of

Fan-beams. These beams are developed by distorting circularly symmetrical beam

into a symmetrical elliptical beam.

The fan-beam antennas are of the following:

> A parabolic cylinder with a line source producing a rectangular aperture and

> A parallel plate antenna consisting of a parabolic cylindrical reflector excited

by the simple feed at the focus and located between the parallel plates which

are perpendicular to the generator of the cylinder.

A typical fan-beam is shown in fig.1.1. Each radar application demands a particular

beam shape from its antenna. For example, a beam sharp in azimuth but shaped in

elevation is required for searching aircrafts from ground. In these applications,

azimuth coverage is done by scaiming. The shaped beam in elevation provides

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coverage on aircraft up to certain altitude and angle of elevation.

Fig. 1.1: Beam from ground based antenna providing coverage on aircraft

Beam presented in fig 1.2 is used for surface search for air-borne radars.

Fig. 1.2: Beam from airborne radar for surface

A typical sector beam is shown in fig 1.3 which is widely used by surface search by

ship-borne radars.

Fig. 1.3: Sector beam for surface search by shipborne antenna

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Two more typical beams are generated from surface antennas for using in height

finding system figs(l .4-1.5)

Bevabon pattern
_ ^ _ JHpraonlal
Arilenna ^ — Elevation scan angle " ~
Honzontal

Fig. 1.4: Elevation pattern of Beavertial beam from height finding antenna

AnfennaV" ~ - ^ ^ ) Axis of beam

' Shaped azimuth pattern

Fig. 1.5: Shaped azimuth pattern of Beavertail beam from height finding antenna

The above beams are conventionally produced from shaped reflectors, but they are

not preferred as it is very difficult to control the over all pattern characteristics.

Moreover, for the applications where fast scarming is required, such conventional

antennas cannot be used. Under these conditions array antennas become alternative

in practice.

The arrays provide tremendous design flexibility by offering the following

parameters under the control of the designer

> Space function

> Amplitude function

> Phase function etc.

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With arrays, it is possible to have very high beam scan rates. The scanning can be

done in different angles with a fraction of microsecond using digital phase shifters.

In most of the theoretical studies, it is assumed that the target response is isotropic.

But a directional target response changes the beam shape required for the antenna

from that predicted by simple "'Inverse - square" considerations. Echo power

received by radar from a target in a given direction is proportional to the radar cross

section of the target [21-25].

It is well known that the radar cross section depends on direction and hence this is

taken into account by designing suitable beam shape of the antenna. The power

transmitted from a shaped beam antenna towards a receiving antenna in a given

direction is proportional to the product of the gains of the two antennas along the line

joining them. A directional receiving antenna changes the beam shape required of the

transmitting antenna.

A few techniques are available to design the antennas to produce different beam

shapes. Pencil beams and simple fanned beams have a common shape. The main

beam pattern is obtained with the constant - phase aperture. This is true irrespective

of the shape and size of the aperture. It is possible to alter the shape by varying the

phase of the illununation across the aperture. The principles behind beam shaping

are easily described in terms of geometrical optics. It is evident from Huygen's

principle of propagation normal to the phase front, that a curved phase front

produced a more dispersed beam than a plane phase front. Beam shaping is obtained

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at the expense of the antenna gain for the fixed aperture size. The radiation intensity

in a given direction in a shaped beam depends on the radius of curvature of the phase

front normal to the given direction and the intensity of the illumination in that region.

The specified vertical-plane patterns are produced by suitably designing the shape of

the reflector. However, it is difficult to control the pattern structure by such antennas.

Moreover, it does not provide any flexibility for the designer. Such shaped reflectors

cannot be installed on air-borne systems, as they are subjected to aerodynamic drag.

Over and above, they are not useful for the applications where fast scanning rates are

required. The actual patterris of the reflector antennas are obtained using the concept

of geometrical optics. Keary[26] reported esc pattern, obtained from such antennas.

For the sake of completeness it is presented in fig(1.6) [19].

-0
/*
I/ rt
4 \i
Calculated
m ' Measured
8
(0
12
OJ
>
•
c
o
/'\

LC\
I. 16
OJ

o 20
J
/ O'
Q.
OJ
>
J2 24
OJ
Q:
28 f I \
1
t
I \
\
32

36

-40'
30° -20° -10° 0° 10° 20° 30° 40° 50° 60° 70° 80° 90°
Angle

Fig. 1.6: Cosecant pattern

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It is evident from the above pattern, there exist considerable ripples in the trade - in

region.

In view of the above facts and considerations, an attempt is made to generate the

specified beam shapes from array antennas. The arrays provide tremendous

flexibility and large number of design parameters in pattern synthesis are available

for the designer.

The cylindrical reflectors illuminated by line-source feeds are characterized by

number of disadvantages. In particular, the feed system becomes unsatisfactory,

when it is bulky and heavy. When a reflector is used with a point-source as a primary

antenna to produce a shaped beam, it is required to generate a pattern of the specified

shape in one plane and to focus in transverse plane.

In airborne navigational radars, the antenna is required to produce a controllable

shaped elevation pattern. The scanning is done either continuously or in a limited

number of steps. This requirenient is specified because of the need to operate the

aircraft in a range of altitudes. But the esc pattern is designed for a single altitude.

There are different techniques to exercise control over the elevation beam shape. The

directivity of the feed in the cylindrical reflector antenna is changed by means of flap.

It directs more power on to the sharply curved portion of the reflector and hence

there is more power in to the wide-angle part of the elevation pattern for high

altitude operation.

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In the case of cylindrical reflector-pill box antenna, measurement studies are made on

the change in the shape of the secondary pattern of the antenna when pill box is

rotated about the axis of its aperture. Mechanical interference problems are

eliminated by obtairung stabilization in the beam. This is achieved by rotating the

reflector alone in the vertical plane.

The directional characteristic of an anterma is one of the most important

specifications in all applications [27]. Each application demands one type of beam

shape or the other. The well known pencil beams are popular for point to point

communication and also for high angular resolution radars. Such patterris are

characterized by one main beam surrounded by several minor lobes. The minor lobes

are also called as side lobes which are undesirable in all applications.

The discrete antenna elements like dipoles and monopoles are basically bidirectional

in nature. These are called omni directional radiating elements and they form

directional pattern in one plane and circular pattern in other plane. However, in the

applications mentioned above, the urudirectional patterns are required and they are

easily generated from array antermas.

In search applications, beam scaniung is required and it is not possible to scan pencil

beam from one direction to another at a faster rate with conventional antennas.

Moreover, it is highly time consuming to cover a large angular sector if pencil beams

are scanned.

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In view of the above reasons, it is alv^ays preferred to generate sector beams in

specified angular regions. The beams should have the following characteristics.

> They should be wide and flat topped.

> They should be no ripples in trade-in regions and no side lobes in trade-off

regions.

> The beam width will be under the control of the designer.

It is possible to produce such patterris either with Amplitude only control or Phase

only control or Spacing only control.

It is also possible to vary all the above parameters simultaneously till the desired

shape is obtained. But such a system is highly involved and complex. In order to

avoid the complexity and simplify the design procedure, it is preferred to keep one of

the parameters as a variable, while keeping the remaining parameters coristant.

Y.Liu et al. [28] described matrix pencil method to reduce the number of elements in

the linear antenna array with a pencil beam pattern. The method is extended to shape

the patterns as well as asymmetric patterns. The methods of the pattern synthesis are

reported by several researchers [29-34]. Most of the papers are focussed on uruform

spacing and linear arrays. The synthesis of a completely non uniform array is also

required very often to thin the arrays while maintaining the required pattern

characteristics. It is also possible to shape the patterns with reconstruction method.

Curletto et al. [35] described a method on the shaping of main lobe in wide band

arrays. Attention is a]so paid to restrict the side lobe levels. A flat top beam is

generated in wide band conditions. Some researchers have considered narrow band

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conditions and produced flat top beams [36-39]. The other authors [40-47] carried out

studies aiming to improve computational efficiency.

Curletto computed the results on the beam patterns and comparison is made between

energy based beam patterns, desired beam pattern. The element weights are also

computed and presented as a function of element number.

Most of the times, the generation of the grating lobes are suppressed by the design of

unequally spaced arrays [48]. These types of arrays are sometimes called as aperiodic

arrays. Such arrays are characterized by a relatively small number of antennas. They

have inherent advantages interms of costs and beam width.

Unequally spaced arrays are found to have several applications ranging from

antennas to ultrasonics [49-50], oceanic engineering [51], signal processing [52] etc.

They are also useful in mobile communications [53]. These arrays have similarities

with non-equidistant taps in synthesizing digital filters [54].

Tommaso et.al.[54] reported a hybrid approach for the optimal synthesis of pencil

beams from array antennas. The approach takes the advantage from the complexity

of the problem with respect to excitation variables, and exploits a simulated

aimealing procedure as far as location variables are concerned. Optimization is done

by genetic algorithm [55] or by simulated annealing [56-58].

In the papers [59-62] hybridization of global and local optimization techiuques are

used.

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The gain at a given off-axis angle is maximized by suitable selection of antem^a size

[63] .The gain is independent of the given angle and depends only on the main-beam

pattern. It is computed for four commonly used gain functions.

Pencil beams are generated by Glaser from elliptical and circular apertiires using the

modified lambda functions. These functions are initially inb-oduced by chu [64] and

pattern synthesis is made with line sources [65]. Relation between the line sources

and elliptical apertures are brought out by Glaser [66].

Circular wave guides are used as TMQI mode source to obtain pencil beam radiation

patterns by Knop et al. [67] such patterns are also generated by modified phase shift

reflection properties [68-70].

End-fire slot is a travelling - wave antenna [71]. It is characterized by a phase velocity

equal to or less than the velocity of light. Stephenson [72] considered end fire slot

antennas and obtain aperture distribution required to produce end-fire radiation. The

spurious radiation produced by the discontinuity at the end of the slot, and the effect

of the finite ground plane in which the slot is cut are described. Computed and

n\easured patterns are presented.

Annular planar slot antennas are used to obtain arbitrary polarized fields [73]. The

apertures described are placed on appropriate radial wave guides and are composed

of annular slots. Each annulus consists of a discrete number of crossed slots. Patterns

corresponding to different polarizations are presented.

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Reflect arrays form a class of antennas. They consist of a surface or aperture which is

characterized by a surface impedance and a primary radiator that illuminates.[74].

The amplihide and phase of the fields reflected from the surface at any point is found

by the impedance presented by the surface at that point. Different configurations are

presented that yield the desired surface impedance. The radiation patterns of a few

typical arrays are presented.

Narasimhan et al. reported a method of analysis of the near and far fields of

paraboloidal reflectors and analytical approach is presented to obtain near and far

fields [75]. Pencil beams are generated from reflector antennas. The technique

consists of the use of near field geometrical theory of diffraction. It does not involve

any constraints on the arrange of polar angles or radial distances. Most of the studies

are centered around the far field patterns of reflector antennas [76].

Reflector arrays are used for contoured beam space applications [77]. It consists of

three layers of rectangular patch arrays backed by a ground plane. Reflection

Coefficient is controlled by the patch dimensions.

Beam shaping is done by Image method [78]. Method is described at microwave

frequencies, esc radiation patterns are produced from parabolic reflectors. Patterns

are also calculated using diffraction theory. The measured patterns of a paraboloid

dish fed by a horn feed and one Image horn are compared. Qualitative analysis is

presented.

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Pencil beams are produced with main beam along the off - axis [79]. The condition for

maximizing the pattern gain function away from bore sight is derived. Half power

beam width and maximum gain are determined.

Galindo-lsrael et al. [80-82] described the characteristics of dual offset and symmetric

shaped reflectors. These reflectors exhibit superior gain compared to conic section

reflectors. However, they also have disadvantages like additional cost of

manufacturing a doubly curved surface. The scarming of pencil beam is obtained by

lateral and axial translation of a single point source feed. The feed is kept pointed

toward the centre of the sub reflector. The gain loss, with scanning of a high gain

shaped reflector is demonstrated. The loss in gain is found to be due to the aperture

phase error loss and power spillover loss.

Aperture distribution is developed by Hansen to provide optimum beamwidth, low

side lobes and low aperture Q [83]. One - parameter circular aperture is considered

for the purpose. The pattern is a modified by ——. It is similar to Taylor one -

parameter modified — line source distribution. Side lobe envelope taper is similar

to that of a uniformly excited circular aperture. The aperture distribution which is

rotationally symmetric, is represented by modified function of zero Bessel function.

Taylor reported a design method of circular apertures for narrow beam width and

low. side lobes [84]. The design includes the development of continuous circular

aperture distributions which contain only two independent parameters A and h

where A is related to the design side lobe level and n is a number, which controls the

13

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degree of the uniformity of the side lobes. A realized pattern is expressed in the form

of integral and they are compared for a line source and circular aperture.

A method of shaped beam synthesis of equispaced arrays is represented by Elliott et

al [85]. The technique is applied to design a sum pattern whose side lobe peaks fit a

prescribed envelope in a specified angular region. The pattern is represented by a

polynomial and certain roots are then displaced radially off the unit circle to obtain

null-filling. The method is applied for a linear array and csc^OCosO pattern is

realized. The pattern synthesis is also carried out by Woodward [86], Ishimaru [87],

Steyskal [88], Stutzman [89], Brigenheier [90] and Chakraborty [91]. Some of these

works are confined to the synthesis of field pattern and rest are confined for the

synthesis of power patterns.

The Matrix pencil method is used to reduce the number of elements in a linear

antenna array by Yanhui Liu et al [92]. It is basically a non- iterative method and

results in a non - uniform anterma array. The method involves sampling of desired

radiation pattern to obtain discrete pattern data set. This set is organized in the form

of Hankel matrix and the singular value decomposition of a matrix is performed. An

optimal lower rank matrix is obtained by discarding the non- principle singular

values. The matrix corresponds to fewer antenna elements. The excitation and space

distributions are determined using pencil matrix method from the approximated

matrix.

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The pattern synthesis methods are ingeneral classified as uniformly and

non-uniformly spaced arrays. Dolph-Chebyshev and Taylor methods are among the

synthesis techniques of uniformly spaced arrays. On the other hand, the techniques of

pattern synthesis of non- uniform arrays are dynamic programming [93],Genetic

Algorithm [94], Differential evaluation algorithm [95],Partical Swarm optimization

method [96],Analytical Methods [97-98] and other synthesis Techniques[99 -102].

Pencil Matrix Method is found to be computationally efficient. It is suitable for the

design of large arrays to obtain patterns with narrow beam and low level side lobes.

This method also suitable for the design of planar arrays.

Preetam Kumar B et al.[103] reported a method of design of unequally spaced arrays

to obtain better performance. Optimum design of arrays to obtain desired field and

power patterns by determining suitable space distribution of the radiating elements

in the array has become very important. Large unequally spaced arrays are designed

by using statistical approach. The probability distributions are used to decide the

optimal space taper of an array with a prescribed amplitude distribution. Lo and Lee

[104] carried out some studies on the probabilistic properties of a planar arrays

randomly distributed elements over an aperture.

A flat- feed technique for phased arrays is distributed by Alfred J. Appelbaum et al

[105]. This is found to offer advantages over the conventional space, corporate and

series feed techniques. In flat- feed technique, power division for monopulse sum and

difference pattern excitation functions is introduced. Energy is extracted from the

15

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power divider.

Some studies are carried out on the radiation from an open - ended corrugated pipe

carrying HE^^ mode by Charles M. Knop et al., [106]. The pipe is considered to be

situated in a infinite perfectly conducting ground plane. Expressions from radiated

fields by HEj^i mode are derived.

The Near - field power symmetric paraboloidal reflector antenna is considered for

analysis of near field patterns [107]. The analysis is made using GTD technique.

Newell et al. [108] made measurements of anteima gain and polarization. The

measurements are conducted at a reduced technique by extrapolation technique. The

substitution technique is typically used for the measurement of above parameters. On

the other hand, the three anterma method does not require any two similar antennas.

It also does not require any quantitative information on gain and polarization of any

anterma, if the two are circularly polarized.

Encinar[109] reported a method of design of two - layer printed reflect arrays using

patches of variable size. The prototype anterma array is built, designed and

measured. The computed and measured patterns are expressed as a function of theta

in free space.

The microstrip patch reflect array is described and designed in order to produce a

shaped beam [110]. Phase only method is used for the purpose. The concept is

demonstrated with Ku band linearly polarized reflect array.

16

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A method of phase synthesis of cor\formal array antennas is presented Vaskelainen

[111]. The method is based on approximate linearized equations for small phase

changes in the excitations. They are determined by the method of least - squares. The

excitations are used iteratively to obtain the final solutions for the excitations phases.

The method is applied for planar and conformal arrays.

In several occasions, it is required to synthesize some shaped - gain functions. Such a

problem is non linear and general optimization is needed for its solution. This

method is described in the papers [112 -115] available in the open literature. In fact,

general approaches like genetic algorithm [116] and simulated annealing techniques

[117] are also useful.

Similar problems, in which the excitation amplitudes are not fixed but with coristraint

values are described in the papers [118 -120].

In linear equi-spaced arrays with shaped beams with filled nulls, several solutions are

available for the determination of amplitude distribution. Genetic algorithm is used

to optimize excitation distribution. Genetic algorithm is also used to design thinned

and digitally phase - shifted pencil - beam antermas [121 -122]. Phase distribution is

also found out using different methods including iterative least - squares method [123

-124].

Israel et al.[125] reported a theory of synthesis of single and dual offset shaped

reflector antennas. The reflector antennas are shaped to produce the patterns like

17

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sector, CSC patterns. These patterns are produced from single shaped reflector

antennas. Dual reflector antennas are used widely for communication purposes, as

they provide high gain. They are also used in large ground stations and satellite

communications.

The equivalent parabola techiuque is used to design in cassegrain system [126]. An

analytical expression consisting of only a two dimensional vector integral for the

secondary vector field from the cassegrain system with an offset feed is derived.The

cassegrain system is treated analytically by many authors [127 -129].

Iterative sampling method is applied for the synthesis of shaped - beam radiation

patterns [130]. Synthesis is reported for line sources as well as uniformly spaced

arrays. The method involves a series of correction patterns till desired patterns are
f

obtained. The current distribution is determined with a corresponding series of

corrections. The constants are always imposed for the practical design. Any useful

method always takes the boundary conditions into account.

The genration of different beam shapes like pencil,sector and Csc are made by several

researchers [131 -140]. However, it is evident that none of these are optimal in terms

of shape and sidelobes.

Chakraborty et al.[141] obtained phase functions for a desired one dimensional

pattern. Circular aperture is considered and analytical expressions are derived for

phase distribution. The sector and csc beams are presented in u-domain {sind).

However, there exist some ripple components in the trade - in region. It is evident

18

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from the literature presented above that the realized patterns are not optimal, as they

contain undesired ripples in the trade-in region and side lobes of considerable height

in the trade-off region.

In view of these facts, intensive investigations are carried out on pattern synthesis

from array antennas to produce desired pattern shapes. The present studies are

centered around the generation of flat top and esc beams. The flat top beams are

useful in search radars and target detection. Flat beams with well controlled beam

widths reduce number of scans during search operation. On the other hand, the esc

beams are useful in ground mapping and airport surveillance radars. Typical real

time applications are shov^m in fig 1.7 and 1.8.

- ^
|E(8)|

• - ' • • 1 - ' • " • • — •

-90" 9Cf
- fi

Fig. 1.7: Two aircrafts illuminated by flat beam

Elu)

0 ui U2
Sine (u)

Fig. 1.8: CSC beam from Aircraft Surveillance Radar

19

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The main objective of the present work is to produce specified beam shapes, to

control the beam width with out affecting the pattern characteristics, to reduce beam

widths with element control, array control, and thiniung. This is the first work in

which the patterns are controlled by the above parameters. The data presented in the

thesis is useful for the phased array users.

The thesis is divided into following chapters

Chapter I: Comprehensive Background of Array Antennas and pattern synthesis

In this chapter, a thorough survey of literature on array antennas and pattern

synthesis, brief background of the papers reported over the last five decades is

presented.

Chapter II: Design of phase distribution for the realization of desired beam shapes

from continuous line source

This chapter deals with the generation of optimized flat beams with defined beam

widths with a proposed amplitude distribution and designed phase function.

Different continuous line sources are considered for the above purpose.

Chapter III: Generation Flat beams from arrays of wire antennas and rectangular

waveguides Patterns are realized with well designed excitation function.

Chapter IV: Patterns of thinned and thick arrays

Flat beams are realized in this chapter from the arrays containing the radiating

elements with the spacing less than A/2 and also greater than A/2.

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Chapter V: Design of Slot Arrays for Sector Beams

In this chapter, normalized conductances for radiating elements of arrays are

designed for given radiation beam. Small and large arrays are considered.

The overall conclusions from the results of each chapter are consolidated. Future

course of the work is also presented.

Uniform amplitude distribution provides a narrow beam with a sideiobe level of

-13.5dB. When the distribution is made non uniform the resultant patterns are found

to exhibit low sidelobes. At the same time the pattern is sensitive to the amplitude

distribution and beamwidth vnll be altered. However the phase function leads to a

complete change of beam shape and pattern is highly sensitive to the phase

distribution. Any additional phase or change of phase is found to result in shaping

the beam structure.

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