An Analysis of Achievable Highest SLL in Moderate Phased Arrays with Quantized Control

Phased arrays with discrete control circuitry for amplitudes and phases are analysed to investigate the impact of finite resolution phase sifters and RF attenuators on the achievable highest side lobe level (HSLL). Finite dynamic range offered by RF attenuators also limits the value of HSLL that can be achieved. The achieved HSLL may lie between 25 to 40 dB for practical values of dynamic range, depending on the array size and number of control bits. This aspect is studied for Chebyshev and discrete prolate spheroidal sequences (DPSS) arrays of different lengths. Finally, a novel approach for quantizing phases is proposed for reducing HSLL degradation.