CST STUDIO SUITE™ 2006B

Application Note

Antenna Arrays

• Introduction
• Finite Arrays
¾ Simultaneous excitation
¾ Combine Results
¾ Farfield-Array
• Infinite Arrays
¾ Unit Cell Modeling

1 msc / v1.0 / 09. Nov 2006 www.cst.com

 Introduction
Rectangular
Linear Array
Patch Antenna

1. Equal excitations: more gain

¾ Channel capacity ~log(N)
¾ Less expensive amplifiers
Advantage: 2. Phased excitation:
¾ Multiple beams: Channel capacity ~(N)
Freedom of excitation ¾ Adaptive beamforming
ƒ Reduced Multipath propagation
ƒ Tracking of objects (e.g. Radar)

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 Array Types
Planar Arrays Circular Arrays

Focus on planar arrays

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 Antenna Array Terminology

• Element = One antenna element of the

antenna array
• Scan = Phased excitation / change
direction of incident wave
• Endfire = Scan at θ = π/2
• Pattern Synthesis: Determine excitation
function for the desired beam pattern.
• Mutual Coupling = Coupling from one
element to others
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 Topics in Array Design

• Beamforming, Blind spots, Coupling

between elements, Active impedance
• Pattern optimization, Side lobe
suppression
– Circular Pattern Synthesis (Taylor, Bayliss )
– Planar Pattern Synthesis (Fourier, Schelkunov,
Woodward, Dolph-Chebyshev, Taylor, modified sinc, Bayliss line
source, Elliot iterative )

• Signal processing, Adaptive arrays

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 Antenna Arrays for Radar
Evolution

Goals:
¾Reduction of mechanical parts
¾Flexible Resolution
¾Tracking of multiple objects

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 Antenna Arrays for Communication
Smart antennas

Switched Beam
Approach:
Switching between a finite
number of predefined patterns

Adaptive Array
Approach:
Continuously adapting the
pattern towards the optimal
characteristic

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 Finite Arrays
Simultaneous Excitation

¾ Simultaneous port
excitation with certain
amplitude/phase
relationships between
ports.
¾ Produces F-Parameter
¾ Phase shift valid for one
frequency only.
¾ Recommended if
Number of elements >
Number of excitations

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 Finite Arrays
Combine Results-Farfields
¾ Calculation of all ports and "combine
results" in post-processing.
¾ All desired amplitude/phase
relationships between the ports can
be easily calculated as a
postprocessing step.
¾ Broadband phase shift possible.
¾ Compute active S-
Parameters/Impedances by given
excitation and known S-Parameters.
¾ Recommended if
Number of excitations > Number of
elements
¾ Distributed Network Computing
shortens the simulation time.

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 Finite Arrays
Farfield-Array
¾ No coupling between the
simulated elements.
Simulation of a bigger array
part necessary
¾ Different excitations easily
realized by using the macro
language for the Antenna
Array feature

no coupling coupling to next

between elements elements considered
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 Infinite Arrays
Unit Cell Project Template

Unit Cell boundary

condition x,y

Floquet port
Antenna Array Zmax
Unit Cell (FD):
Units: mm, ghz
Background: vacuum
Boundaries: x,y unit cell
(phase shift defined by Scan angle
angle of incidence) definition (φ, θ)
Ground plane: zmin
Periodic port: zmax
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 Infinite Arrays
Unit Cell Definiton Array:
Single element:

generation
Automatic

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 Infinite Arrays
0D Result Template Templates
Definitions: δ φθ = π +ψ TE −ψ TM
TE
Eφ A00
γ = tan −1 = tan −1 TM
Eθ A00

ε = sin (sin 2γ sin δ φϕ )

1 −1
2

Axial Ratio: Tilt: Active element pattern:

cos −1 (θ )
2
TE := A00
TE

⎛ sin 2γ cos δ φθ ⎞
:= cot (ε )
1
:= tan −1 ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ TM := A00
TM
cos −1 (θ )
2

2 ⎝ cos 2γ ⎠
total := ⎛⎜ A00
TE 2 TM 2 ⎞
+ A00 ⎟ cos −1 (θ )
⎝ ⎠
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 Open-ended Waveguide Array

Periodic Boundary
Conditions

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 Open-ended Waveguide Array
Published results:

Electrical Phase Shift Angle = 45 deg

Simulation: Blind Spot occurs at an electrical

Phase Shift Angle = 71 deg

Grating lobes occur at electrical

Phase Shift Angles > 150 deg

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 Infinite Arrays
Honeycomb Example

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 Infinite Arrays
Honeycomb Example

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 Summary
Antenna array simulations with
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO®

• The time domain solver is a powerful tool for the

simulation of finite antenna arrays. The array size is
only limited by the available memory resources.
• The features simultaneous excitation, combine results
and farfield array offer a variety to find the best
approach for a given problem.
• The frequency domain solver can simulate arbitrary
infinite arrays using a unit cell. Project and result
templates are helpful to model and extract results.

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