Low-Profile Radiators in Non-Periodic Wideband Arrays

摘要

This report details our research progress during the course of this grant. This report includes development of new wideband antenna elements, strategies for cost-effective random arrays using these elements, and supporting computational codes. First, a summary of the development and analysis of the new antenna element developed under this project is provided. Measured and simulated results show that this new element can provide a 3:1 bandwidth (using VSWR = 3 as the bandwidth criteria typically used for wideband elements) with no degradation in radiation characteristics. Next, the results of our work on arrays of random subarrays are presented. Theoretical analyses show that rotating subarrays composed of random arrays can deliver performance close to that of a purely random array while making the array more cost effective and price competitive with alternatives that work over much smaller bandwidths. Parallel work on computational tools that enable wideband simulation of elements in random arrays is also discussed. Conclusions about this research and possible directions for future research are provided along with a listing of the publications sponsored by this project to date.