Study Of Experiment And Pattern Synthesis For Conformal Microstrip Arrays

Conformal arrays'benefits include reduction of aerodynamic drag, wide scan angle characteristics, reduction of Radar Cross-Section (RCS) and elimination of radome-induced bore-sight error, etc. So they will find their potential and promising applications in a variety of fields ranging from space-borne, airborne and missile-borne radar, space vehicles and wireless communications to sonar, etc. Microstrip antennas have been the one main type of conformal array due to their lightweight, low cross section, and conformability. The pattern synthesis technique for conformal arrays of microstrip antenna is studied, taking into account of practical mutual coupling, in this paper.Firstly, a kind of broadband microstrip antenna has been designed as the element of conformal arrays. Considering of project requirement and design difficulties, the S-band wide-band probe-feed stacked microstrip antenna with a backing cavity has been chosen. The antenna is designed and manufactured. The measured results are basically accordant to numerical simulated results, which completely fulfills the design requirements.Secondly, pattern analysis of conformal arrays is presented. Using the method of converting local coordinate system to global coordinate system, element pattern transformation for rotation and movement is carried out. The pattern of conformal arrays is obtained by superposition. The method is confirmed by the analysis for cylinder microstrip arrays.Then, the aperture projection method, which is typical pattern synthesis method for conformal arrays, is introduced, combining to the Taylor line source synthesis method which is applied to plane array. The effect of the mutual coupling to the element pattern is analyzed detailedly. The extraction and modify technique for mutual coupling of the conformal arrays is studied. And the low side lobe pattern synthesis for conformal arrays, taking into account of practical mutual coupling, is carried out. Whereafter, the model of 12 elements cylinder microstrip arrays, whose element is the wide-band microstrip antenna designed in this paper, are builded. And the synthesis method is further supported by the EM simulation data.The last chapter is paper concluding remarks, which sums the paper work, and bring forward the latter task.