Research On The Method Of Marking The Phase Center Of The Phased Array Antenna

With the development of the electromagnetic technology, signal processingtechnology, manufacturing technology and the computer data processing ability, phasedarray antennas have been widely used in the field of radar, guidance, navigation andelectronic countermeasures. By changing the phase and amplitude of the feeding signalof each array element, the direction of the beam of phased array antennas can becontrolled. Nowadays, many researchers focus on the specialities of amplitude radiationpattern for example gain, beam, sll, while they care less about the phase pattern and thephase center of phased array antennas. With the expansion of applications, the technicalindexes such as phase pattern and the phase center of phased array antennas are alsodemanded in some areas.Based on the above background and combining the requirements of applications,this paper will discuss the method of marking the phase center of the phased arrayantenna. The main research contents are as follows:1. The methods including Moving Reference Point Method (MRPM), Key-PointsMethod (KPM), Simulated Annealing Algorithms (SAA), Phase Gradient Method(PGM), Least Square Method(LSM) and simulation method which are commonlyused to ensure the phase centers are compared in theory and applications. By usingall these methods to ensure the phase center of a horn antenna, the advantages anddisadvantages and the possibility of marking the phase center position of phasedarray antenna of each method are discussed.2. It is demonstrated that the Least Square Method based on solving matrix directly hasa lot obvious predominance in marking the phase center of antenna. The phasecenter model and the expression between the phase pattern and the phase center arebuilt.3. Combining the definition of the phase center and the Apparent Phase Center,through communication and experiment, the Least Square Method based on solvingmatrix directly is demonstrated to be a doable and accurate way to mark the phasecenter of antenna by the phase radiation pattern.4. Based on the research and analysis in this paper and using the graphical userinterface of MATLAB, the softwares based on the Least Square Method based onsolving matrix directly for marking the phase center of phased array antennas operating on different conditions are developed.5. Through simulations and experiments, the stability of phase center of the phasedarray antennas operating on different conditions are researched by using the LeastSquare method based on solving matrix directly.