A METHOD FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PHASED ARRAY BEAM STEERING PROPERTIES

摘要

An experimental study used to assess the performance of linear phased arrays according to their beam steering behavior was presented in this paper. The key aspect of this behavior was described by the directivity, which shows amplitude as a function of radiation angle at a specific radius. Testing was done by mounting a phased array in a motorized fixture driven by a step motor. The transducer was programmed to steer at a specific angle and its radiation pattern was obtained using an immersion receiver focused beneath the rim of the disk. This approach was shown to provide uniform and consistent amplitude measurements which are critical to the directivity. The key result obtained from this study, which gave excellent testimony to the theoretical prediction, was that if the product Nd was kept constant, the directivity characteristics were preserved. That is, the main lobe sharpness was shown to be independent of the element packing configuration.