System performance and performance enhancement relative to element position location errors for distributed linear antenna arrays

For the most part, antenna phased arrays have traditionally been comprised of antenna elements that are very carefully and precisely placed in very periodic grid structures. Additionally, the relative positions of the elements to each other are typically mechanically fixed as best as possible. There is never an assumption the relative positions of the elements are a function of time or some random behavior. In fact, every array design is typically analyzed for necessary element position tolerances in order to meet necessary performance requirements such as directivity, beamwidth, sidelobe level, and beam scanning capability.;Consider an antenna array that is composed of several radiating elements, but the position of each of the elements is not rigidly, mechanically fixed like a traditional array. This is not to say that the element placement structure is ignored or irrelevant, but each element is not always in its relative, desired location. Relative element positioning would be analogous to a flock of birds in flight or a swarm of insects. They tend to maintain a near fixed position with the group, but not always. In the antenna array analog, it would be desirable to maintain a fixed formation, but due to other random processes, it is not always possible to maintain perfect formation. This type of antenna array is referred to as a distributed antenna array.;A distributed antenna array's inability to maintain perfect formation causes degradations in the antenna factor pattern of the array. Directivity, beamwidth, sidelobe level and beam pointing error are all adversely affected by element relative position error. This impact is studied as a function of element relative position error for linear antenna arrays. The study is performed over several nominal array element spacings, from lambda to lambda, several sidelobe levels (20 to 50 dB) and across multiple array illumination tapers.;Knowing the variation in performance, work is also performed to utilize a minimum variance array processing method to minimize the effects of the distributed array element mis-positioning. The extent of array factor performance enhancement is demonstrated for several linear distributed array designs where the input to the enhancement algorithm is only the element position information.