Sampling synthesis of ring arrays

A technique for synthesizing a ring array that will radiate a prescribed pattern in the plane of the ring is developed. The design is optimum in the sense of minimum ring diameter and minimum number of elements for a specified precision. Application of sampling theory to the development of a discrete-array synthesis procedure yields a direct interpretation of results (minimum aperture, absolute minimum number of elements) obtained by earlier authors. As an example, the synthesis technique is applied to the problem of designing a ring array for aircraft navigation use.