Low frequency antenna analysis

Abstract

An arbitrary VHF antenna array was considered for the comparison of two methods of analysis. The first method was based on a Fourier transform decomposition of the far-field radiation integral written in Matlab. In this approach the current on the antenna array is taken to be comprised of simplified functions. The current has three rectilinear components with each component been a product of three one dimensional rectilinear functions. The far-field is then obtained by a one dimensional Fourier transform of each of rectilinear function for each of the vector components. The array nature of the antenna is analyzed via a traditional summation approach and represented in closed form. The second method used was a traditional computational electromagnetic simulation using the Numerical Electromagnetic Code (NEC). The Fourier transform method ignores mutual coupling but is very computationally fast. The NEC method fully considers mutually coupling and is computationally much slower.