Some Features of the Overlapped Subarrays Built Up of Beam-Forming Matrices for Shaping Flat-Topped Radiation Patterns

Comparative analysis of the subarray factor shape and array network complexity is carried out for an approach proposed recently for building up linear arrays of overlapped subarrays for limited field of view applications on the basis of beam-forming matrices (BFMs). It is shown that the flat-topped subarray radiation patterns can be shaped using the BFMs only at the expense of some reduction of the subarray gain at the broadside direction. The influence of the number of the array modules in a subarray on the quality of the flat-topped beam shape is considered. Evaluation of the array network complexity is proposed and performed on the basis of array element use efficiency. Application of the BFM approach to build up planar overlapped subarrays is addressed and some results of optimization of the subarray factor are presented.