Abstract
A low-profile and wide-scan phased-array antenna of connected cross-bowtie elements is proposed. The design goals and considerations are based on the applications requiring the integration of a large array antenna with composite sandwich structures, such as antennas on aircraft. In a very large array environment (modelled approximately as an infinite array), the main beam of the proposed antenna can be steered up to ±75° at azimuth and ±15° at elevation over bandwidths of 10% and 25% with active reflection coefficients below −10 dB and −5 dB, respectively. A Monte Carlo analysis of critical manufacturing and alignment tolerances shows the desired performance is achieved with the cumulative distribution probability over 80% under the uniformly distributed random combinations of the tolerances. Experimental results of a $7\times 7$ element array prototype agree well with the simulations of this small-scale array case. The experiments show that this small-scale prototype is capable of steering the beam within the range of [−60°, 60°] at azimuth and [−15°, 15°] at elevation with the predicted performance satisfying the targeted application requirements and mechanical constraints. The achieved combination of the wide beam steering performance, relatively low antenna profile, and suitability of its feeding structure for sandwiched electro-mechanical integration makes this design unique with respect to the previously published results.
Highlights
P HASED array antennas are widely used in, for example, targets tracking in radars and digital beamforming in communication systems owing to their ability of high-speed beam scanning and multiple beam generation
The traditional λ/4 element height is optimal at broadside for typical narrow-band array antennas, while higher elements enable scanning at large off-broadside angles
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Scattering parameters and embedded radiation patterns in Eand H-planes of all elements of the array antenna prototype were measured in the anechoic chamber at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Summary
P HASED array antennas are widely used in, for example, targets tracking in radars and digital beamforming in communication systems owing to their ability of high-speed beam scanning and multiple beam generation. Other types of phased-arrays of multi-mode antenna elements [8]–[10] employ multimode excitation at elements that varies with beam direction to achieve wide scan range up to ±64° in an 8 × 8 array [10]. They need a doubled or more number of ports and optimal combiners for each antenna element in the array, which increases the design complexity and cost significantly and it is quite difficult to extend to large arrays.
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