TheBasicsofAntennaArrays

ByG.J.K.MoernautandD.Orban OrbanMicrowaveProducts www.orbanmicrowave.com

Introduction Forsomeapplicationssingleelementantennasareunabletomeetthegainorradiation patternrequirements.Combiningseveralsingleantennaelementsinanarraycanbea possiblesolution.Thisarticleintroducesthebasicconceptsofantennaarrays. Antennaarrays,radiationpatternandarrayfactor Theantennaelementscanbearrangedtoforma1or2dimensional antennaarray.A numberofantennaarrayspecificaspectswillbeoutlinedweused1dimensionalarrays forsimplicityreasons. Antennasexhibitaspecificradiationpattern.Theoverallradiationpatternchangeswhen severalantennaelementsarecombinedinanarray.Thisisduetothesocalledarray factor:thisfactorquantifiestheeffectofcombiningradiatingelementsinanarray withouttheelementspecificradiationpatterntakenintoaccount. Theoverall radiation patternofanarrayisdeterminedbythisarrayfactor combinedwith theradiationpattern oftheantennaelement. Theoverallradiationpatternresultsinacertain directivity and thusgainlinkedthroughtheefficiencywiththedirectivity.Directivity andgainareequal iftheefficiencyis100%. Broadsidevs.endfirearrays Arrayscanbedesignedtoradiatein eitherbroadsidei.e.radiationperpendiculartoarray orientation (thezaxisinfigure1)orendfirei.e.radiationinthesamedirection asthe arrayorientation (theyaxisinfigure1).Wewillfocus onbroadsidearraysandonly radiationinthezdirectionisconsidered.Thisallowsforeasytransformationto2 dimensional planararrayswiththeelementsinthexyplane.Forlineararraysthe radiationpatternsgivenbelowareacrosssectionintheyzplane.Actually,the3 dimensionalradiationpattern ofalineararray isarotationaroundtheyaxisofthe patternsgiven.

Figure1:Topologyofalineararray. Definingarrayfactor Thearrayfactordependsonthenumberofelements,theelementspacing,amplitudeand phaseoftheappliedsignaltoeachelement.Thenumberofelementsandtheelement spacingdeterminethesurfaceareaoftheoverallradiatingstructure.Thissurfaceareais calledaperture.Alargerapertureresultsinahighergain.Theapertureefficiency quantifieshowefficienttheapertureisused. Theinfluenceoftheseparameterswillbefurtherexplainedwiththeaidofalineararray of isotropicradiatingelements.Anisotropicradiatingelementradiatesanequalamount ofpowerinalldirections,i.e.ithasadirectivityof1(0dB)andagainof1(0dB)ifthe efficiencywere100%. Intheoutlinebellowthearrayfactorisnormalizedtothearray directivity.Thisresultsinmoreintuitiveandrealisticradiationpattern plots.

Influenceofthenumberofelementsonthearrayfactor Thearraydirectivityincreaseswiththenumberofelements.Figure2showsthe directivityof3arrayswith 2(red), 5 (green)and10(blue)elements.Theelementspacing is0.4timesthewavelength (l) forallthearraysinfigure2.Notethepresenceof side lobesnexttothemainlobes:thisistypicalforarrays.Thenumberofsidelobesandthe sidelobelevelincreasewiththenumberofelements. Itisimportanttonotethatdueto thearrayfactordefinitionthereare2mainlobes.Thereisamainlobeattheta0 (positivezaxis)andamainlobeattheta180/180 (negativezaxis).

Figure2:Directivityofa2 (red),5 (green)and 10(blue)elementarraywith0.4l elementspacing. Influenceoftheelementspacingonthearrayfactor Theelementspacinghasalargeinfluenceonthearrayfactor aswell.Alargerelement spacingresultsisahigherdirectivity.However,theelementspacingisgenerallykept smallerthan l/2toavoidtheoccurrenceof gratinglobes.Agratinglobeisanother unwantedpeakvalueintheradiation patternofthearray.Figures3,4and5showthe arrayfactorsofa5elementarraywithvariouselementspacing.

Figure3:Directivityofa5 elementsarraywith0.2(red),0.3 (green)and0.5 (blue) timeslelementspacing. Increasingtheelementspacingtowards lresultsinanincreaseddirectivity andgrating lobeeffectwithamaximumgratinglobeamplitudeequaltothemainlobemagnitudeat anelementspacing lasshowninfigure4.

Figure4:Directivityofa5 elementsarraywith0.5(red),0.75 (green)and1 (blue) timeslelementspacing.

Anelementspacingbeyond lbecomesimpracticalandresultsinmultipleunwanted gratinglobesasdepictedinfigure5.

Figure5:Directivityofa5elementsarraywith1(red),1.5(green)and2 (blue) timeslelementspacing.

Influenceoftheradiatingelementpropertiesontheoverallradiationpattern Anumberofexamplesoftotalradiationpatternsaregivenbelowinordertogiveanidea oftheeffectoftheradiatingelementradiationpatternontheoverallarrayradiation pattern.Figure6showstheradiationpatternofanisotropicelement(red),thearrayfactor andthecombinedradiationpattern (bothgreen).Inthiscasetheoverallradiationpattern isthesameasthearray factorsinceanisotropicelementradiatesthesameamountof powerinalldirections.

Figure6:Directivityofanisotropicsource(red)ina5elementsarray(green)with 0.4 lelementspacing. Figure7showstheradiationpatternofadipole(red), thesamearrayfactorasinfigure6 (green)withoutdipolesandtheoverallradiationpattern ofthearray withdipoles(blue). Theoverallradiationpatternisclearlydifferentfromthearrayfactori.e.thedirectivity hasincreasedwiththedipolesdirectivity andtheoverallradiationpatternisslightly modifiedduetothedipolesradiationpattern.

Figure7:Directivityofadipoleina5elementsarraywith0.4 lelementspacing.

Figure8showstheradiationpatternofadipoleonaninfinitegroundplane(red),the samearrayfactorasinfigure6(green)withoutdipolesandtheoverallradiationpattern ofthearray withdipolesonaninfinitegroundplane(blue).Thedipolehasaradiation lobeinthepositivezaxisonly (broadsideandbecauseofthegroundplane)andthusthe directivity ofthedipolehasincreasedwith3dB(becauseofthatgroundplane).Notethat theoverallarraydoesindeednotradiateindirectionsweretheantennaelementdoesnt radiate,i.e.noradiationin thenegativezdirectionanymore.Theoverallarrayhasthusa perfectfronttobackratiothismakessensebecausewehaveusedaninfiniteground plane.

Figure8:Directivityofadipoleoninfinitegroundina5elementsarraywith0.4 l elementsspacing. Feedingofanarray Inthepreviouslydiscussedarraystheelementspacinghasbeenkeptconstantandthe elementswerefedwiththesameamplitudeandphase.Theresultingarrayswerelinear arrayswithuniformspacing,uniformamplitudeandequalphase. However,thepowerdoesnotnecessarilyhavetobedistributedwithequalamplitude and/orphase.Unequalpowerandphasedistributiontotheindividualelementscanbe usedtomodifythesidelobelevel,directivityanddirectionofthemainlobe.Arangeof standardamplitudeandphasedistributionsexists(e.g.uniform,cosinepedestal)butthis isbeyondthescopeofthisarticle. Thereadershouldrealizethatanymodificationtoanarraywillhavesomeadverseeffect ontheperformanceofthearrayandacarefultrade offisrequired.Whenthepower distributionisoptimizedtoreduce thesidelobelevel,theefficiencyofthearray decreaseswhenthephasedistributionisoptimizedtodobeamsteering,newsidelobes willshowupasthemainbeamisdeflectedsideways.

Feednetwork ofthearray Theindividualantennaelementsinanarray arefedusingafeednetwork.Thecomplexity ofthefeednetworkdependsonthenumberofelements,theamplitudeand/orphase distributionbetweentheelements,theabilitytodobeamsteeringItisimportantto realizethatthefeednetworkisthemostcomplexpartofthearray.

Conclusion Abriefoverviewofantennaarrayaspectshasbeengiven.Themainfocuswastogivethe readersomebasicinsightsintoaverybroadandcomplexdomainwithinantennatheory withoutoverloadingthereaderwiththemathematicsbehind.

References: nd Antennatheory(2 edition),ConstantineA.Balanis,Wiley,1997 Phasedarrayantennahandbook,RobertJ.Mailloux,ArtechHouse,1994 Thebasicsofpatchantennas,D.Orban&G.J.K.Moernaut, http://www.orbanmicrowave.com/The_Basics_Of_Patch_Antennas.pdf