Modern Hybrid Numerical-Ray Method for the Analysis/Synthesis of
Large Convex Conformal Antenna Arrays
Prabhakar H. Pathak, The Ohio State Univ. Electroscience Lab.,
Dept. of ECE, 1320 Kinnear Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43212, USA.
E-mail: pathak.2@osu.edu
Federico Puggelli, Univ. of Siena, Dept. of Information Engineering,
Siena, Italy.
E-mail: ruolando@gmail.com
This course will present a physically appealing method for the relatively efficient
analysis/synthesis of large, complex, conformal finite phased array antennas on a locally
convex but otherwise complex platform (e.g., an aircraft,or spacecraft,etc.). The
numerical FE-BI (or FEM) can be employed to obtain the array aperture surface field
distribution by solving just the local array geometry for a given excitation. The latter
provides the sources, via the equivalence theorem, which then radiate the array surface
fields in presence of the rest of the array platform geometry. The effect of the platform is
accounted for via the UTD ray technique. Two alternative UTD approaches are presented
for launching rays from the array aperture sources; both provide a vivid picture for the
array radiation mechanisms. The above hybrid procedure may be utilized iteratively for
conformal array synthesis in which the initial guess is based on an application of the
reciprocity theorem for plane wave illumination of the array, and its platform, in a
direction opposite to the desired scan angle.