Title :
Antenna pulsewidth distortion paradox explained
Author_Institution :
Raytheon Co., Wayland, MA, USA
fDate :
5/1/1988 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A paradox of why there can be no pulsewidth distortion for an antenna array which is receiving or transmitting a wide-bandwidth chirp waveform is presented and explained. When a very narrow pulse is received at an off-boresite angle by an antenna array using phase steering, the pulse becomes distorted, that is, dispersed. The pulsewidth spreading is equal to the difference in the times of arrival of the pulse at the opposite ends of the antenna. However, if a wideband chirp waveform instead is incident on the antenna, no dispersion can be made to occur if the antenna is resteered toward the signal source during the time the chirp waveform is being received. The steering prevents frequency scanning of the antenna beam because of the changing carrier frequency of the linear FM chirp waveform. This represents a paradox because the dispersion still exists over the antenna. The author explains why the chirp signal is received undistorted at the output of the antenna in spite of the dispersion
Keywords :
antenna phased arrays; antenna theory; electric distortion; frequency modulation; antenna array; changing carrier frequency; electronic steering; linear FM chirp waveform; offboresite angle; phase steering; phased array; pulsewidth distortion paradox; undistorted chirp signal; wide-bandwidth chirp waveform; Antenna arrays; Bandwidth; Chirp; Frequency; Phase distortion; Phased arrays; Pulse compression methods; Receiving antennas; Space vector pulse width modulation; Transmitting antennas;
Journal_Title :
Proceedings of the IEEE