Simulation of phased array antennas

This paper gives an overview of a computer simulation suite PHASAR which has been in use and under continuous development at Roke Manor. The program is written in FORTRAN and was originally produced to aid the design and testing of the then joint Plessey/MOD phased array radar demonstrator, MESAR. Since then it has evolved to have the capability to simulate virtually any antenna array for radar or communications. It may used for anything from a two element communications array to a large multithousand element phased array radar. Conformal arrays may also be simulated. The major attribute that sets it aside from other simulation programs is its comprehensive capability to model adaptive cancellation systems from sidelobe cancellers to fully adaptive arrays with realistic error mechanisms fully modelled. It has been tested against trials of the MESAR demonstrator with real targets and jammers and found to predict accurately the actual trials results. For relatively small arrays that fall within the scope of NEC it has also been shown to give very good agreement on beam patterns, provided the spacing is such that mutual coupling is not significant. If deemed necessary an interface to NEC has been provided but this has an impact on running time. A number of examples of widely different applications are shown