Cosecant Square Pattern Synthesis with Conformal Antenna Arrays

Abstract

A modern high-speed aircraft will be installed with more than 25 antennas protruded from its structure for communication purpose, navigation, Instrumental Landing System etc. These multiple antennas can cause a considerable amount of drag that will ultimately affect the efficiency of aircraft. Nowadays, integration of antennas on the surface of the aircraft is very much essential. So conformal arrays are well suitable for such applications. In this work, spherical, cylindrical and conical shaped antenna arrays have been modeled and discussed in detail. Further, these antenna arrays have been utilized to generate Cosecant-squared shaped radiation pattern that have importance in radar and navigation applications. There is a significant difference in number of elements in linear and conformal array for the generation of cosecant squared radiation pattern. To bridge this gap, only certain elements, satisfying the constraints imposed on conformal antenna array are excited, and the cosecant squared radiation pattern is synthesized. The excitation parameters of the conformal array elements are optimized using DE & SSO optimization techniques. Simulation results validate that radiation of cosecant squared shaped pattern is possible with the excitation of less number of elements for the different conformal array. Besides simulation results, the ripple value is calculated in the main lobe, and it is possible to get less ripple with the different constraint for the different conformal array.