Mutual coupling analysis between apertures embedded in a finite ground plane

It is noted that many clusters are built (or could be modeled) with their horn apertures embedded in a finite metallic plane. A quite general method to describe the cluster radiated fields is presented. The proposed method uses either the electric field model or Chu's model and adds the rays diffracted by the metallic plane edge to calculate the modal aperture excitations and radiation field patterns. A horn cluster analysis procedure is developed taking into account the finite aperture plane. The results obtained using cylindrical horns are shown to provide a better prediction (mainly over crosspolar fields) than that obtained with a simple model without the use of the geometrical theory of diffraction.<>