Beam pointing errors of phased arrays for digital switched beam acoustic radars

Phased array antennas and corresponding driving electronics units have been introduced in Atmospheric Acoustic probing. Using modern microprocessor systems in conjunction with suitable digital electronics, it is possible to implement an acoustic probing system, with full beam switching capabilities.

The radiation pattern of a planar M × N phased array acoustic radar equipped with digital phase shifting circuits for the beam switching, is examined and all the necessary formulas are presented. For a given accuracy of phase quantization, the set of beam pointing directions which can be achieved without deterioration, due to this quantization, is computed and diagrams showing the mapping of the available beam pointing directions throughout space are presented. The relation between the cardinal number of this set of directions and the accuracy of the phase quantization is also presented.

The beam pointing errors, due to the accuracy of the phase quantization and the dissimilarities among the array's elements are analysed using simulation techniques