A Novel Interpretation of Coding in Time-Modulated Arrays

In this paper, we show that the digital code bits used in the time-coded modulation arrays can be interpreted as vector elements, and with this new interpretation, a better understanding of the relationship between the codes and the amplitude/phase of the generated harmonic signals is obtained. Using such interpretation, we show that one can easily perform the beam steering in a TMA by electronically shifting the bits of a proper code. Through full-wave simulations, we demonstrate the beam steering of a TMA without the use of any phase shifter, and only by shifting the digital code bits. The proposed interpretation can play an important role in reducing the complexity of the optimal code selection in controlling of TMAs.