Mutual coupling edge effect approximation for phased-array antennas

Abstract

In order to obtain the full performance of a finite phased-array antenna, due to the presence of edge and inner elements, a high computational cost full wave simulation of the whole array is necessary. In the case of an array where SmnneSnm (an active array for instance), the coupling characteristics of any element must be computed by means of feeding every element in the simulation and sometimes this cost may be unaffordable. In this paper, we develop an approximated method to get the active reflection coefficient (ARC), of an edge element using the ARC of an element embedded in an infinite array, which implies a reduction in the computational load of the calculation.