Simulation of the Antenna Pattern of Arbitrarily Oriented Very Large Phase/Time-Delay Scanned Antenna Arrays with Systematic and Random Errors

Abstract

A computer simulation to determine the field pattern of arbitrarily oriented, very large phase/time delay scanned antennas was developed. The simulation takes into account errors present in antenna arrays. These are systematic and random errors. The systematic errors considered here are the finite quantization of phase produced by the use of digital N-bits phase/time-delay shifters and the flexing of the array aperture chic to its large size and weight. The random errors considered are those caused by variations on the amplitude and phase of the elements current, variations on the radiation pattern of the elements, missing elements (due to catastrophic failure) and variations in the location of the elements. A number of patterns were computed to validate the simulation. These included patterns of linear arrays, array panels, and arrays of panels. Experience as well as specific examples found in the literature validated the ideal patterns. The “random-error-patterns” were compared to specific trends noted in earlier studies. The behavior of the computed patterns confirmed such trends.