Minimizing the number of control elements in phased arrays by subarraying

摘要

A set of design curves are presented that can be used to optimize the tradeoff between field of view and subarray size, the subarray size being a function of the number of elements in a subarray and the interelement spacing. In determining these curves, an optimum spacing is determined as a function of n/sub s/, the number of elements along a side. The scan loss is determined as a function of n/sub s/ and the maximum beam scan angle ( theta /sub 0/) only. The reduction in number of phase shifters resulting from using a subarray is also determined as a function of n/sub s/ and theta /sub 0/ only.