The effect of random amplitude and phase errors of continuous apertures

The effect of random amplitude errors of continuous apertures on the radiation pattern and on the gain is communicated. A distinction has been made between random attenuations and random amplitude errors with a zero mean value. Comparison with random phase errors shows that,-besides the fact that those have commonly larger rms values,-the effect of random attenuations on the level of the scattered power is less as long as the rms values remain in a reasonable range. Random amplitude errors with zero mean have equal influence as phase errors. The main effect of random attenuations is the reduction of the total radiated power and thus a decrease of the gain.