The Effects of Excitation Errors in Null-Steering Antenna Arrays,
Abstract
Electronic warfare requirements have spurred the development of antenna design techniques that place nulls in the radiation pattern while simultaneously maximizing some desired performance parameter such as gain or signal-to-noise ratio. Such anti-jam techniques require amplitude and phase control of the antenna elements and, on the surface, seem to offer the possibility of obtaining deep pattern nulls and therefore, cancellation of jamming effects. It is well known however, that excitation errors will fill in the pattern nulls and can also squint the beam and modify the sidelobe levels. In this report, the emphasis is on quantifying the error effects. Starting with techniques for the design of null and deep trough patterns, the effects random, discretization, and accuracy errors in the required amplitude and phase settings are examined. Comparison of three radiation patterns, that is, the error free pattern, the average pattern, and the average plus standard deviation pattern illustrates the null and trough depths actually achievable in the presence of feeding errors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA031153
Entities
People
- C. Drane
- J. Mcilvenna
- J. Schindler
- R. Mailloux
Organizations
- Rome Laboratory