Phased arrays composed of antennas with steerable patterns

Traditional narrowband phased arrays consist of fixed antenna elements with adjustable complex weights for scanning the beam and controlling the beam shape. This paper investigates the improvements that can be obtained by steering the individual antenna patterns in addition to adjusting the array weights. Such steering of the antenna element patterns can be achieved by mechanical rotation or by an electronic mechanism. The fundamental issues in the design of this novel phased array are identified, and numerical simulations of beampatterns are included to illustrate the results.