A synthesis procedure for coated reflector antennas

A procedure is presented for the synthesis of coated axially symmetric reflector antennas to provide specified far-field radiation patterns. The technique stems from ray tracing from the feed to the aperture plane via reflection from the reflector surface. The coating profile required to attenuate the aperture fields is determined based on the reflection of plane waves from metal-backed slabs. The procedure involves two steps. Initially the thickness required to produce the proper magnitude aperture distribution is obtained. Then the reflector is shaped to adjust the phase across the aperture. This procedure is demonstrated in the design of a -40 dB Taylor pattern. Comparison of the results with those obtained using a moment method formulation revealed good agreement between the two formulations