Efficient Synthesis of Scanned Conformal Arrays with Chebyschev Patterns

Standard synthesis approaches for linear arrays offer coefficients that can be applied to isotropic elements in free space. In the context of mm wave communication for 5G, conformal arrays with moderate number of elements are likely to be deployed for beam steering to achieve better utilization of resources. Only directive elements such as microstrip patch antennas will be useful here. A fast iterative algorithm was proposed by our group to address this. While digital controls offer easy implementation of such beam steering arrays, these pose an additional challenge in optimization of beam characteristics. An approach to correct the scanned main beam characteristics in these situations is discussed here.