Radiation pattern synthesis for circular aperture horn antennas

A set of radiation pattern functions, suitable for synthesis of radiation patterns from circular aperture horn antennas, is obtained by assuming an aperture distribution consisting of the fields of cylindrical waveguide modes. A technique is presented for using a linear combination of the radiation pattern functions to approximate a desired radiation pattern. Linear combinations of the radiation pattern functions resulting in maximum secondary gain, when used to illuminate a paraboloidal antenna, are obtained empirically. Using spherical wave theory, maximum performance theoretically obtainable from an antenna is derived as a function of the aperture size of the feed system; the feed efficiency resulting from these theoretical limits on performance is compared to the feed efficiency of patterns obtainable from circular aperture horn antennas, and to experimental results of attempts to realize optimum circular aperture horn patterns.     

Constrained optimization of the performance indices of arbitrary array antennas

The solution to the optimization of performance indices of array antennas such as directive gain, efficiency index, and signal-to-noise ratio, do not provide information regarding the sidelobe region of the radiation pattern. It is shown that, with proper constraints on the sidelobes, a given performance index can be optimized to give a radiation pattern with desired sidelobe levels. As most of the performance indices of an array antenna can be expressed as a ratio of two Hermitian quadratic forms, an eigenvalue method is used for the constrained optimization. This method gives explicit expressions for the excitation vector and constrained values of the performance indices. An iterative technique is used to ensure that the specified field values occur at the sidelobe peak positions. The element excitations obtained by this technique for maximum gain and uniform sidelobe level are similar to these obtained by the Dolph-Chebyshev technique.     

Optimization of aperture illumination for radio wave power transmission

A basic design of an aperture illumination of antennas used for radio wave power transmission is presented. In the power transmission using microwave such as solar power satellite, not only the transmission efficiency, but also the transmitting power capacity allowed by the necessary electromagnetic environment is a very important factor for realization. In this paper the circular antenna aperture illumination is optimized in order to give the maximum transmission efficiency with the constraint on the radiation levels at the edge of the receiving aperture and at the radiation peaks of the subsequent sidelobes. This constrained optimization problem is solved by successive use of the sequential unconstrained minimization techniques (SUMT method). The maximum transmission efficiency and receivable average power density are obtained for various constrained levels of the spilled radiation, and are compared with the values in the unconstrained case.     

On the aperture and pattern space factors for rectangular and circular apertures

A consequence of a recently discovered edge condition for planar apertures is that all planar aperture distributions are separable physically into a product of an edge factor and an aperture space factor, analogous to the way in which the radiation pattern separates into a product of an element factor and a pattern space factor. An exact relationship between these aperture and pattern space factors for physically realizable vector fields is derived here for rectangular and for circular apertures. For rectangular apertures it leads to a two-dimensional set of doubly orthogonal functions that are characteristic of the aperture geometry. Characteristic functions for circular apertures, however, are shown to exist only if the vector fields are circularly symmetric, although for scalar fields they exist for completely arbitrary aperture distributions with arbitrary edge taper. For rectangular apertures the characteristic functions consist of products of spheroidal functions and for circular apertures they are obtained from a generalization of the spheroidal functions. Some of the properties of these generalized spheroidal functions are developed here.     

A comparison among 1-, 3-, and 7-horn feeds for a 37-beam MBA

A very common multiple beam antenna (MBA) configuration consists of a collimating device illuminated by an array of feeds. The collimating device is usually a reflector or a lens. The feeds are usually horn antennas with a circular aperture. The reflector is usually offset-fed to eliminate aperture blockage; the lens is center fed. The antenna's feeds are excited to produce a finite number of beams, so as to provide contiguous coverage of the field of view. The designer is forced to minimize the angular spacing between adjacent beams in order to maximize the minimum gain over the antenna's field of view. On the other hand, the feed horn's aperture gain is maximized when the feed horn spacing and its aperture diameter are equal. This results in antenna efficiency of the order of 30% when a single feed horn is excited to produce a beam. When a cluster of 3 or 7 adjacent feed horns are excited to produce a single beam, antenna efficiency can be increased to 50%. When it is tolerable, several identical antenna apertures can be used to replace a single aperture configuration. In this case, each of M apertures produces approximately N/M beams of an MBA that produces N beams. Horns producing adjacent beams do not illuminate the same aperture. This permits the use of a much larger horn aperture for a given beam spacing. This results in reduced spillover, higher gain of each beam, and increased antenna efficiency of each aperture. This paper investigates the maximization of gain for several lens antennas. It shows that antenna gain is increased as its focal length is decreased. That is, a focal length-to-diameter ratio (F/D) less than 1 is preferred     

Pattern characteristics of linear arrays using the constrained least squares distribution

The constrained least squares (CLS) distribution is a method for obtaining distribution functions that yield low sidelobe patterns with specified constraints on the aperture efficiency, and are especially useful for the transmit patterns of active array antennas. The widely used Taylor distribution optimizes only pattern performance while the CLS distribution optimizes pattern performance while taking into account the constraints on both the peak element amplitude and the total effective radiated voltage (ERV) of the aperture distribution. The paper compares the pattern characteristics of linear arrays with CLS and Taylor distributions. The results help to establish guidelines on when a CLS distribution would be preferable over a Taylor distribution when a specified aperture efficiency is important.     

Diffraction of a Wave Beam by an Aperture

The diffraction field of a wave beam from a circular and a rectangular aperture is obtained in the Fresnel region by using the Huygens-Kirchhoff approximation. The diffraction field in the Fraunhofer region can be obtained simply by replacing a parameter. The diffraction field is then expanded into a series of beam mode functions. From the field distributions and the expansion coefficients, which represent the coupling of the incident beam to the various modes in the diffraction field, the effects of an aperture on the incident beam can be known. With this mode expansion method, the conditions for optimum coupling between fundamental modes are obtained and solved numerically.     

Exact derivation of aperture errors in antenna measurements

Antenna-pattern measurements are generally undertaken by placing the antenna under test (usually the receiving antenna) sufficiently far from the transmitting antenna that the receiving antenna is illuminated with a plane wave. Gain measurements, whether by substitution, paired horns, or integration of the area under the beam pattern, depend upon the same criterion. A true plane wave is only achieved by separating the two antennas by an infinite distance, but it has been shown by Milne (1950) that small departures from a plane wave do not usually seriously degrade the measurement. The authors consider three aspects of the fields across a linear aperture. The finite spacing between the antennas produces a phase deviation and an amplitude taper. If we are only interested in the apparent gain loss, we need to combine both tapers into an illumination efficiency. It is surprising how little the illumination loss is when the phase deviation and amplitude taper are large. The formulation is given in terms of linear apertures, and can be easily extended to circular or rectangular apertures by adjusting the limits of the integrals     

Minor lobe suppression in a rectangular horn antenna through the utilization of a high impedance choke flange

A significant reduction in the minor lobe radiation pattern of a rectangular pyramidal horn antenna is obtained by placing a choke around the aperture of the antenna and adjusting the choke to approximately a quarter wave in depth. The reduced minor lobe radiation means less scattering and a higher efficiency. The choke also results in an improvement in the antenna gain with a measurably narrower beam. A minor variation of approximately 10 percent, peak to peak, is obtained in the antenna input impedance for choke depths varying from zero to a quarter of a wave.     

Optimum aperture distributions in the presence of blockage

A method is presented for optimising the performance indices of aperture antennas in the presence of blockage. An N-dimensional objective function is formed for maximising the directivity factor of a circular aperture with blockage under sidelobe-level constraints, and is minimised using the simplex search method. Optimum aperture distributions are computed for a circular aperture with blockage of circular geometry that gives the maximum directivity factor under sidelobe-level constraints.     

高增益高效率的Fabry-Perot谐振腔天线研究

提出了一种采用非均匀频率选择表面（frequency selective surface, FSS）盖板以及非均匀电磁带隙（electromagnetic band gap, EBG）结构反射地板的高增益Fabry-Perot（F-P）谐振腔天线. 基于漏波理论模型,针对大口径F-P谐振腔天线设计非均匀的FSS盖板和EBG反射地板,控制衰减常数α和相位常数β,改善了口径场上幅度相位分布的均匀性,并抑制了非谐振频率时天线辐射性能的恶化,实现高增益和高口径效率的同时,保证了天线的工作带宽. 所提出的圆形F-P谐振腔天线直径为6.6λ₀,仿真增益为24.6 dBi,口径效率达67.9%,阻抗带宽为4.1%,3 dB增益带宽为3.7%;实测增益为23.9 dBi,口径效率达56.9%. 由于对口径场均匀性的设计,该天线克服了传统F-P谐振腔天线的口径效率和增益间的相互限制.     

Beam efficiency limitations of large antennas

The beam efficiency of an antenna may be defined as the ratio of the power radiated within the main beam to the total power radiated. The beam efficiency is derived for ideal rectangular and circular apertures, as a function of the edge-to-center amplitude ratio. Random phase errors are assumed to exist across the aperture. Various types of feeds for parabolic reflectors are also considered in relation to the fraction of power which the feed directs into the paraboloid. A primary limitation on the beam efficiency of a paraboloid is shown to be produced by the surface roughness.     

Maximization of the directive gain of a parabolic reflector antenna

The directive gain of a parabolic reflector antenna is maximized by optimizing the feed aperture distribution. The feed aperture distribution is specified by a set ofNbasis functions weighted by coefficients to be determined. This approach is different from the conventional method where, given a particular feed, the directive gain is maximized by subjecting the reflector aperture parameters to optimization.     

光阑约束超几何激光束的传输特性

基于广义惠更斯-菲涅耳衍射积分和圆孔光阑函数展开为有限复高斯函数之和的方法,导出了超几何激光束通过有圆孔光阑约束的近轴ABCD光学系统传输的近似解析表达式,并对其传输特征进行了数值计算和分析。研究结果表明,超几何激光束光强的分布及其衍射效应与光阑的孔径大小、传输的距离以及光束参数等因素密切相关。此外,文中采用的近似解析方法与直接利用衍射积分计算相比,具有更高的计算效率,可以大大节省计算机时。     

A new multimode rectangular horn antenna generating a circularly polarized elliptical beam

A multimode circularly polarized rectangular horn antenna generating an elliptical shaped beam is described. This antenna operates in two orthogonal mode sets, namely the TE10+ TE/TM12and TE01+ TE/TM21modes. By virtue of the higher order TE/TM modes, the apertureE-field distribution can be tapered such that the effectiveE-plane far-field beam width is approximately equal to theH-plane beam width of the other orthogonal set of modes, resulting in low off-axis polarization axial ratio. Because of the tapered aperture distribution, the radiation patterns also have low sidelobes. The elliptical cross section beam is a direct result of the rectangular shaped aperture. This antenna, used in conjunction with a spacecraft to illuminate an elliptical zone on the earth surface, offers high edge-of-coverage gain, low sidelobes, low edge-of-coverage (EOC) axial ratio, less RF sensitivity to the space environment, and low cost. The performance of this antenna has been evaluated experimentally.     

The optimum transient radiation from an arbitrary antenna

Bounds on the optimum transient radiation from an arbitrary antenna enclosed by a spherical surface of specified size are presented. The optimization criterion is either maximization of the radiated electric field amplitude at a specified time and far-zone position, or maximization of the radiated energy density in a specified time interval for a particular far-zone position. The latter optimization results in the prolate spheroidal wave functions. In both cases, the total energy radiated by the antenna is constrained to be 1 J, and the antenna excitation is assumed to be bandlimited. The performance of the optimum arbitrary antenna is compared to that of optimized practical antennas, such as dipoles and arrays of dipoles. The effect of a sidelobe constraint is also studied.     

A reactively loaded aperture antenna array

The use of variable reactive loads to control the beam direction of an antenna array consisting ofNclosely spaced waveguide-backed dielectric-filled rectangular slots is considered. Only the center waveguide is driven (no complex feed network is required for the array), and the other waveguides are short circuited at specified distances to provide reactive loading. The solution uses the method of moments applied to the integral equation for the equivalent magnetic current in the aperture region. The initial, design of the array is obtained by resonating the complex excitation voltages required for maximum gain with all of the elements driven. This is then improved by an optimum seeking univariate search method. Computed results are given for seven- and fifteen-element aperture arrays.     

Scattering at Circular-to-Rectangular Waveguide Junctions

A formally exact solution is given for the problem of scattering at a circular-to-rectangular waveguide junction and at a thick diaphragm, with a centered circular aperture, in a rectangular waveguide. The method uses normal TE and TM mode expansions of the waveguide fields and traditional mode matching of the transverse electric and magnetic fields at the junction boundary. Exact closed-form expressions are obtained for the electric field mode-matching coefficients which couple the TE(TM) modes in the rectangular guide to the TE(TM) and TM(TE) modes in the circular guide. Numerical results are presented for the case of TE/sub 10/ mode propagation in the larger rectangular guide with all other modes cutoff. Convergent numerical results for the equivalent shunt susceptances of such junctions are obtained when about 12 modes (eight TE and four TM) are retained in the circular waveguide or in the circular aperture of the diaphragm. The results are graphically compared with formulas and curves due to the quasi-static theory of Bethe and the variational theory given in the Waveguide Handbook [2].     

Electromagnetic coupling through small apertures in a conducting screen

The electromagnetic field coupling through small apertures illuminated by an arbitrary incident plane wave is discussed for general aperture shapes. A set of new integral equations in a form highly amenable to numerical solution techniques is derived. Based on the application of the Rayleigh series method, an analytical solution is obtained for the first few terms of the expansion of the apertureE- field of a circular aperture. Numerical results are also constructed for the aperture field and the diffracted field of small rectangular apertures and compared with those of the circular apertures.     

A cavity-backed rectangular aperture antenna with application to a tilted fan beam array antenna

A rectangular aperture of A/sub x//spl times/A/sub y/, cut in the top conducting plate of a triplate transmission line and backed by a cavity, radiates a tilted beam off the direction normal to the aperture. The mechanism of the radiation is explained using the Poynting vector distribution above the aperture and the phase distribution of the electric field over the aperture. The tilt angle is calculated as a function of side length A/sub x/ for a representative value of A/sub y/=18 mm=0.747/spl lambda//sub 12.45/, where /spl lambda//sub 12.45/ is the wavelength at a test frequency of 12.45 GHz. A tilted beam of approximately 27/spl deg/ is realized at A/sub x//A/sub y/=8/9 with a gain of approximately 8 dB. Using this value of A/sub x//A/sub y/, an array antenna composed of rectangular cavity-backed aperture elements is investigated. The array forms a tilted fan beam without phase shifters. The frequency responses of the gain and input impedance are discussed.