Synthesis of elliptically shaped aperiodic antenna arrays subject to complex design constraints

Abstract

State-of-the-art conformal array pattern synthesis techniques typically suffer from a significant computational burden. This article builds upon the auxiliary array pattern synthesis technique, allowing the technique to work on elliptical contours. This deterministic method is both computationally efficient and capable of handling complex design cases with additional design constraints. In order to highlight the versatility and applicability, the method has been applied to an elliptical arc array comprised of Rampart antennas and an elliptical ring array using dipole elements. The results have been validated through full-wave electromagnetic simulations, as well as physical measurements. Both arrays presented show good agreement with the proposed synthesis technique. Highlighting the ability to satisfy additional design constraints, such as enforcing a minimal element spacing or having a controlled beamformer-network complexity.