Rigorous Electromagnetic/Circuit-Level Analysis of Time-Modulated Linear Arrays

The paper demonstrates for the first time an integrated circuit-level/electromagnetic approach to the analysis of time-modulated linear arrays. We developed a multi-domain CAD platform combining rigorous Harmonic Balance-based analysis of the nonlinear switches with the electromagnetic characterization of the radiating elements. This allows a full-wave computation of the radiated far field envelope which is used to display the array behavior. The resulting simulation tool allows a rigorous evaluation of some nonlinear performance aspects of the radiating system such as the power-handling capabilities and the switch modulation frequency limit. Several examples with different switch modulation patterns are presented in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the tool. Simplifying assumptions typical of previous approaches are overcome in this way, while keeping computational time at levels suitable for nonlinear optimization.