| Antennas are key components in a radar development, for they are instrumental is determining the clutter levels and the resolution of the data collected in polar expeditions. A high degree of accuracy can be achieved only through sensors which have high gain and sharp beamwidths. When antenna arrays are developed to match these requirements, the occurrence of grating lobes in the beampattern nullifies the advantages gained through arraying. In this thesis we analyze the use of subarray rotation techniques to effectively suppress the grating lobes that develop during arraying, thereby achieving sharp beamwidths and hence fine resolutions. The frequency of operation is 550 to 650MHz. Data collected from various polar researches suggest that, the attenuation caused by radar sounding in dry snow regions is minimal in this frequency range. The aim of this project is to create a planar antenna array system with printed dipoles, with sharp beams that utilizes the advantages of low attenuation of the ice sheet dielectrics in the operating frequency, to aid in fine resolution radar mapping of the ice-bed interface. |
