Antenna Engineering EC 544: Prof - Dr.Darwish Abdel Aziz
Antenna Engineering EC 544: Prof - Dr.Darwish Abdel Aziz
Uniform Arrays
Linear, Circular, Planar
If the reference point is chosen to be the physical center of the array, the array factor will be:
To find the nulls of the array, the array factor is set to zero. That is
For n = N, 2N,, the (AF)n attains its maximum values because it reduces to a sin(0)/0 form. The values of n determine the order of the nulls (first, second, etc.). Since the argument of the arccosine cannot exceed unity, so the number of nulls that can exist is a function of the element separation d and the progressive phase excitation .
The half power beamwidth (HPBW) can be determined once the angles of the first maximum (m) and the half-power point (h) are determined. For a symmetrical pattern
HPBW = 2| m - h |
There are secondary maxima (maximum of minor lobes) which occur approximately when the numerator AF attains its maximum value . That is,
Thus the maximum of the first minor lobe of AF is -13.46 dB down from the maximum at main lobe.