Finitely Large Phased Arrays of Microstrip Antennas — Analysis and Design

Abstract

This paper focuses on the development of a model to obtain qualitative insight in the behaviour of large, but finite, phased arrays of microstrip antennas. This model concerns a finite array of simple elements, namely perfectly conducting, infinitely thin, narrow rings, excited by voltage gaps and positioned in free or half space. The currents on the rings, and from that the electromagnetic field, are calculated by a moment method. Dimension analysis is carried out to reduce numerical effort and to acquire insight in the behaviour of the array. The qualitative analysis shows promising results and although numerically a brute force method has been applied, CPU times are still acceptable.