Transient Performance of Array Antennas

The transient performance of a uniformly excited, equal-spaced linear dipole array is evaluated under the assumption of constant radiated power over a finite frequency band. This approach permits the implicit evaluation of the effects of mutual coupling between array elements on transient performance. It is shown that the transient response depends on the array directivity as a function of frequency. Approximation techniques are used to evaluate the transient performance at boresight, within the main antenna beam, and beyond the main beam for small and large array element, spacing. At boresight, the far field signal may be approximated by the weighted sum of the Hilbert transform of the input signal and its time derivative.