This article was downloaded by: [Concordia University Libraries]

On: 06 February 2015, At: 13:09

Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954
Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Electromagnetic Waves

and Applications
Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tewa20

Arbitrary Footprints from Arrays

with Concentric Ring Geometry
and Low Dynamic Range Ratio
a

R. Eirey-Prez , M. lvarez-Folgueiras , J. A.
c

Rodrguez-Gonzlez & F. Ares-Pena

Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Physics,

University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de
Compostela, Spain
b

Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Physics,

University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de
Compostela, Spain
c

Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Physics,

University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de
Compostela, Spain
d

Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Physics,

University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de
Compostela, Spain;, Email: francisco.ares@usc.es
Published online: 03 Apr 2012.

To cite this article: R. Eirey-Prez , M. lvarez-Folgueiras , J. A. Rodrguez-Gonzlez &

F. Ares-Pena (2010) Arbitrary Footprints from Arrays with Concentric Ring Geometry and
Low Dynamic Range Ratio, Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, 24:13,
1795-1806
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156939310792486601

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information
(the Content) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor
& Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties
whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose
of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the

opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by
Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and
should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and
Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands,
costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused
arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the
use of the Content.

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.
Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sublicensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly
forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://
www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

J. of Electromagn. Waves and Appl., Vol. 24, 17951806, 2010

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

ARBITRARY FOOTPRINTS FROM ARRAYS WITH

CONCENTRIC RING GEOMETRY AND LOW DYNAMIC
RANGE RATIO

R. Eirey-P
erez, M. Alvarez-Folgueiras
J. A. Rodrguez-Gonz
alez, and F. Ares-Pena
Department of Applied Physics
Faculty of Physics
University of Santiago de Compostela
15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
AbstractA common method of antenna array synthesis uses leastsquares approximation to t the radiation pattern of the array to a set
of samples of an ideal desired pattern Fid . However, it has long been
known that discontinuities in Fid prevent close approximation, and
that sampling a target pattern Ftar that approximates Fid can aord
better results. Here we show, for the case of circular planar arrays,
that an appropriate target pattern can be obtained by modication of
a Taylor pattern for a circular aperture.

1. INTRODUCTION
In view of the physical unrealizability of ideal antenna radiation
patterns such as a perfectly at-topped beam, designers since
Schelkuno [1] have sought to identify and implement the realizable
pattern that, given various conditions or constraints, constitutes the
least-squares approximation to the ideal pattern. For a number
of situations there exist function-analytic solutions for the best
approximation to a given eld (see, for example, [24]).
The
main problem faced by these methods is due to the least-squares
solution being an optimum in the mean, because of which it may
allow signicant deviation from the ideal pattern in regions where
close approximation is of particular interest [3]. Since electronic
computation facilities became widespread, this diculty has been
Received 11 May 2010, Accepted 8 July 2010, Scheduled 21 July 2010
Corresponding author: F. Ares-Pena (francisco.ares@usc.es).

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

1796

Eirey-P
erez et al.

tackled by seeking the least-squares t to a set of samples of the desired

pattern [5]; although the same problem recurs to some extent, it may
be handled by assigning dierent weights to dierent sample points [6].
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to see how a given set of sample
weights will aect the solution.
An alternative approach to the waywardness of least-squares
solutions is to replace the ideal pattern Fid with a discontinuityfree target pattern Ftar that is close to the desired pattern, though
not necessarily in the least-squares sense [3]. Here we show, for
the case of planar arrays required to generate arbitrary footprint
patterns (i.e., patterns consisting of a at-topped main beam with
a contour of given shape, surrounded by low side lobes), that
an appropriate target pattern can be obtained by angle-dependent
homothetic transformation (ADHT) of a circular Taylor pattern that
has been shaped by the method of Elliott and Stern (ES) [7, 8]; in a
previous paper [9] we described the use of a target pattern of this kind
for Woodward-Lawson synthesis, which of course requires a rectangular
array. Once the target pattern has been obtained, it can be sampled,
and the excitations of a given array can be optimized to obtain the
least-squares t to the samples. Finally, array realizability can be
facilitated by imposing a lower limit on element excitations [10].
The following papers recently published in PIER journals may be
considered relevant [1122].
2. METHOD
Given an ideal footprint Fid that is dened by a contour C in the
space of spherical coordinates (, ), and is to be achieved by an array
of characteristic radius a, we proceed as follows.
Step 1. We begin by deforming C to a circle C  around some
appropriate internal point. For simplicity, this point is assumed here
to be = 0, so that the deformation takes the form (, ) (  , ),
where sin  = h() sin for some function h dened on [0, 2).
Step 2. We next apply the ES method (Elliott and Stern 1988) to
obtain a footprint of contour C  , maximum ripple Rd and maximum
side lobe level SLLd that could be generated by a circular aperture of
radius a, i.e., for some appropriate M and p we nd tn and sn such
that the required circular footprint is given by

 M+p
M

  t2 
t2
t2
1
1
1 2
(1)
FES (t) = f (t)
(tn +jsn )2
(tn jsn )2
tn
n=1
n=M+1

where t = (2a/) sin  , is 1 if the eld must be real and 0 otherwise,

Concentric ring geometry and low dynamic range ratio

and

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

J1 (t)
f (t) = 2
t

M +p+M

n=1

t2
1 2
1n

1797

1
(2)

J1 being the Bessel function of the rst kind and order 1, and 1n the
nth zero of J1 . M (or 2M if the eld is to be real) is the number of
nulls of J1 (t)/t that must be lled to cover the area within C  , and
p is the number of additional nulls that must be moved to achieve the
side lobe specication or steepen rollo. Although the determination
of tn and sn is an iterative local optimization process, it is nevertheless
very rapid.
Step 3. The pattern FES obtained in Step 2, or a sample of its
points (see Step 4 below), is then reverse-transformed into the target
pattern Ftar by replacing sin  with h() sin in the expression for t.
Step 4. Ftar is sampled at appropriate points. If the sampling
scheme is suciently dense as not to need to take the morphology of
Ftar into account explicitly, then in Step 3 Ftar need only be calculated
at the sample points.
Step 5. The excitations Ii of the array are optimized by leastsquares to aord the pattern best tting the Ftar samples. Like the
calculation of FES in Step 2, the least-squares calculation is much faster
than stochastic optimization methods.
Steps 3  5  , 3  5  , etc. If is 0 in Equation (1), and FES (t)
therefore complex, the power pattern FES (t) FES (t) corresponding to
the set {(tn , sn )} is also the pattern corresponding to any set {(tn , sn )},
where sn = sn [7]. In general this leads to a total of 2M dierent
Ftar and the same number of solutions {Ii }. Therefore, from among
these 2M solutions, one can choose the one with the best combination
of side lobe level, ripple and/or dynamic range ratio Imax /Imin , where
Imax and Imin are the maximum and minimum excitation amplitudes,
respectively.
Step 6. If necessary, the element excitations Ii can be retouched so
as to reduce the dynamic range ratio. For example, thresholds Tzero and
Tfloor (Tzero < Tfloor ) can be dened for the amplitude of the normalized
excitation Ii /Imax , excitations Ii such that |Ii /Imax | < Tzero can be set
to zero, and excitations Ii such that Tzero |Ii /Imax | < Tfloor can be
amplied by |Imax /Ii |Tfloor . This procedure, which ensures a dynamic
range ratio of 1/Tfloor , is generally found to result in less pattern
degradation than the suppression of all excitations with amplitudes less
than Tfloor . Apart from reducing the dynamic range ratio, eliminating
elements also, of course, reduces the weight of the antenna.

1798

Eirey-P
erez et al.

3. EXAMPLES
The method described above was applied to the examples that follow
using Matlab (R2009b) on a desktop computer with an Intel Core i7
processor running at 3.2 GHz. In all cases, computation time was about
4 or 5 seconds.

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

3.1. Rectangular Footprint, Circular Array, Complex Field

We wish to generate a rectangular footprint of aspect ratio 2 : 1, centred
on = 0 and dened in the rst quadrant by
v = 0.12 0 u < 0.24
u = 0.24 0 v < 0.12

(3)

where u = sin cos and v = sin sin . It is to have ripple Rd of

no more than 0.5 dB and side lobes no higher than 25 dB, and is
to be generated by a circular array of maximum radius 10 in which
the isotropic radiating elements, before any Step 6 suppressions, are
equispaced on 20 concentric rings lying /2 apart. We dene the rings
to be such that the radius of the mth (counting from the centre) is
m = (2m 1)/4; and given the symmetry of the desired pattern, we
impose quadrantal symmetry on the array, and dene the position of
the nth element of the rst quadrant of the mth ring by




(2n1)
(2n1)
ymn = m sin
(1 n m) (4)
xmn = m cos
4m
4m
(more complex denitions of m , xmn and ymn would be necessary to
impose a more uniform element spacing, but the denitions above are
sucient for the present illustrative purposes). This array is shown in
Fig. 1.
The transformation of Step 1 of the Method section is dened in
the rst quadrant by

 

1 cos 0, tan1 1
2
(5)
h() = 2

sin
otherwise
For Step 2 we take M = 2 and p = 3 to obtain a pattern FES with
Rd = 0.5 dB and maximum side lobe level SLLd = 25 dB, with the
results shown in Table 1.
In Step 4, Ftar is sampled in the rst quadrant along 90 -cuts 1
apart, with 35 equispaced samples in the footprint area and 50 outside
it (7650 samples in all). In Step 5, in view of the quadrantal symmetry

Concentric ring geometry and low dynamic range ratio

10

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

y []

y []

10

1799

0
0

x []

10

Figure 1. First quadrant of

the array used in the complex
eld example, before elimination
of weakly excited elements.

0
0

x []

10

Figure 2. First quadrant of

the array used in the complex
eld example, after elimination of
weakly excited elements.

of the antenna, the eld function to be tted to the Ftar samples is

given by
F (, ) = 4

m
20 


Imn cos(kxmn sin cos ) cos(kymn sin sin ) (6)

m=1 n=1

where Imn is the excitation of the nth element on the mth ring, and k
is the wavenumber.
The pattern produced by Step5 has a maximum side lobe level of
22.34 dB and lowest ripple troughs of 2.60 dB in the footprint, and
the array excitation distribution has a dynamic range ratio of 471. If
the excitations are retouched in Step6 using thresholds Tzero = 1/16
and Tfloor = 1/14 to achieve a dynamic range ratio of 14, 92 elements
(44%) are zeroed in each quadrant, the maximum side lobe level is
lowered to 22.59 dB, and the ripple troughs are raised to 2.51 dB.
The resulting array is shown in Fig. 2, and the pattern it generates
in Figs. 3 and 4. Note that although this pattern underperforms as
regards both side lobe level and ripple, the initial specications could
be met simply by increasing M and/or p in Step 2 so as to be able
to impose stricter specications on FES . The alternative solutions
corresponding to Steps 3 5 of the general method (see Section 2)
are no improvement.
The pattern obtained above may be compared with the results of
sampling the ideal pattern (a perfectly at-topped rectangular column
rising 25 dB above a perfectly at background), instead of FES . Before

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

1800

Eirey-P
erez et al.

Figure 3. Power pattern of the complex eld generated by the array

of Fig. 2 (projection on the (u, v) plane).

Figure 4. Power pattern of the complex eld generated by the array

of Fig. 2 (perspective view).

Concentric ring geometry and low dynamic range ratio

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

Table 1. Values of tn and sn for

FES in the complex eld example.
n
1
2
3
4
5

tn
0.5967
1.7837
3.6420
4.3039
5.2119

sn
0.5225
0.5268
0
0
0

1801

Table 2. Values of tn and sn for

FES in the real eld example.
n
1
2
3
4
5

tn
1.0225
3.0445
5.4319
6.1570
7.1293

sn
1.1424
1.0829
0
0
0

retouching, the least-squares t to the ideal pattern has a side lobe level
as high as 17.80 dB and ripple troughs of 2.03 dB, and the dynamic
range ratio of the array is 2576. Retouching (with the same thresholds
as above) eliminates 161 elements per quadrant (77%), leaving an array
that generates a pattern with side lobe levels of 13.79 dB and ripple
troughs of 1.65 dB.
3.2. Rectangular Footprint, Circular Array, Real Field
To approximate the same power pattern as above while ensuring a real
eld, a task that requires more nulls to be lled, we use a larger circular
array comprising 32 rings. The between-ring spacing is again /2, and
the same formulae as above are used for m , xmn and ymn (so the radius
of the outermost ring is 15.75). The values of M and p in Step 2,
and the sampling scheme of Step4, are likewise the same as in the
complex eld case; the values of tn and sn determining FES are listed
in Table 2. Before retouching, the resulting pattern has a side lobe
level of 22.74 dB and ripple troughs of 1.37 dB, and the dynamic
range ratio of the array is 15,097. Retouching with Tzero = 1/56 and
Tfloor = 1/54 eliminates 394 elements per quadrant (75%; see Fig. 5)
and achieves a pattern with a maximum side lobe level of 22.56 dB
and ripple troughs of 1.56 dB (Figs. 6 and 7). As in the complex eld
case, achievement of 25 dB side lobes and 1.0 dB ripple troughs
would require stricter specications for FES .
3.3. Irregular Footprint, Circular Array, Complex Field
Figure 8 shows the outline of the desired footprint in our nal example,
in which we are allowed 12 rings of elements and once more aim for a
peak side lobe level of 25 dB and ripple troughs no deeper than 1 dB.
Fig. 8 also shows, superimposed on the desired footprint contour C,
the circular contour C  ; since C has no analytic expression, neither has

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

1802

Figure 5. First quadrant of the

array used in the real eld example, after elimination of weakly
excited elements.

Eirey-P
erez et al.

Figure 6. Power pattern of the

real eld generated by the array
of Fig. 5 (projection on the (u, v)
plane).

Figure 7. Power pattern of the real eld generated by the array of

Fig. 5 (perspective view).

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

Concentric ring geometry and low dynamic range ratio

Figure 8. An irregular desired

beam contour C, and the circular
contour C  into which it is transformed by ADHT in the last example of Section 3.

1803

Figure 9. The array used in the

last example of Section 3, after
elimination of weakly excited elements.

Figure 10. Power pattern of the real eld generated by the array of
Fig. 9 (projection on the (u, v) plane).
the transform function h(), which must be obtained numerically. We
use the same element placement scheme, M and p as in the previous

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

1804

Eirey-P
erez et al.

Figure 11. Power pattern of the real eld generated by the array of
Fig. 9 (perspective view).
examples. Since there is no symmetry in this footprint, Ftar must be
sampled over the whole hemisphere (we use 360 -cuts 1 apart, with
25 equispaced samples in each -cut), and instead of using Equation (6)
to reconstruct the eld, we must use
12 
4m

Imn exp {jk (xmn sin cos + ymn sin sin )} (7)
F (, ) =
m=1 n=1

This aords a solution with a dynamic range ratio of 120 that

generates a power pattern with a peak side lobe level of 18.95 dB and
ripple troughs of 1.38 dB. Retouching the excitation distribution with
Tzero = 1/13 and Tfloor = 1/10 eliminates 97 elements (31%; Fig. 9),
producing a power pattern with a peak side lobe level of 18.85 dB
and ripple troughs of 1.64 dB (Figs. 10 and 11).
4. CONCLUSION
Footprint patterns generated by antenna arrays must be evaluated in
terms of their quality parameters (side lobe level, ripple, etc.) rather
than the t of the pattern to an ideal at-topped column. The quality
of least-squares t for the ideal pattern is signicantly poorer than
that of least-squares t for patterns constructed by angle-dependent
homothetic transformation of a circular footprint obtained by the
Elliott-Stern method for circular continuous apertures.

Concentric ring geometry and low dynamic range ratio

1805

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and
Technology through project TEC2008-04485.

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

REFERENCES
1. Schelkuno, S. A., A mathematical theory of linear arrays, Bell
Systems Tech. J., Vol. 22, 80107, 1943.
2. Rhodes, D. R., The optimum line source for the best meansquare approximation to a given radiation pattern, IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propag., Vol. 11, 440446, 1963.
3. Schell, A. C. and A. Ishimaru, Antenna pattern synthesis,
Antenna Theory, R. E. Collin and F. J. Zucker (eds.), Part 1,
Chap. 7, 235305, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969.
4. Steyskal, H., Synthesis of antenna patterns with prescribed
nulls, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 30, No. 2, 273279,
1982.
5. Hirasawa, K. and B. J. Strait, On a method for array design by
matrix inversion, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Vol. 19, No. 3,
446447, 1971.
6. Carlson, B. D. and D. Willner, Antenna pattern synthesis using
weighted least squares, Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., Vol. 139, No. 1,
Pt. H, 1116, 1992.
7. Elliott, R. S. and G. J. Stern, Shaped patterns from a continuous
planar aperture distribution, Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., Vol. 135,
No. 6, Pt. H, 366370, 1988.
8. Elliott, R. S. and G. J. Stern, Footprint patterns obtained by
planar arrays, Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., Vol. 137, No. 2, Pt. H,
108112, 1990.
9. Ares-Pena, F., J. Fondevila-G
omez, G. Franceschetti, E. MorenoPiquero, and J. A. Rodrguez-Gonzalez, Synthesis of very large
planar arrays for prescribed footprint illumination, IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propag., Vol. 56, No. 2, 584589, 2008.
10. Fondevila-G
omez, J., Sntesis de diagramas de radiaci
on a
partir de agrupaciones de antenas con o sin modulaci
on en el
tiempo utilizando tecnicas estocasticas o cuasi-analticas, Ph.D.
Dissertation, 100101, Dept. Applied Physics, Univ. Santiago de
Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 2007.
11. Li, W.-T., X.-W. Shi, and Y.-Q. Hei, An improved particle swarm
optimization algorithm for pattern synthesis of phased arrays,
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 82, 319332, 2008.

Downloaded by [Concordia University Libraries] at 13:09 06 February 2015

1806

Eirey-P
erez et al.

12. Azevedo, J. A. R., Shaped beam pattern synthesis with nonuniform sample phases, Progress In Electromagnetics Research
B, Vol. 5, 7790, 2008.
13. Zhou, H.-J., Y.-H. Huang, B.-H. Sun, and Q.-Z. Liu, Design and
realization of a at-top shaped-beam antenna array, Progress In
Electromagnetics Research Letters, Vol. 5, 159166, 2008.
14. Khodier, M. M. and M. Al-Aqeel, Linear and circular array
optimization: A study using particle swarm intelligence, Progress
In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 15, 347373, 2009.
15. Gajardo-Silva, G. and L. Landesa, The Synthesis of complexangle zeros for on-board antenna arrays, Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 80, 369380, 2008.
16. Yang, S., Y. Liu, and Q. H. Liu, Combined strategies
based on matrix pencil method and tabu search algorithm to
minimize elements of non-uniform antenna array, Progress In
Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 18, 259277, 2009.
17. Mangoud, M. A.-A. and H. M. Elragal, Antenna array pattern
synthesis and wide null control using enhanced particle swarm
optimization, Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 17,
114, 2009.
18. Guney, K., A. Durmus, and S. Basbug, A plant growth
simulation algorithm for pattern nulling of linear antenna arrays
by amplitude control, Progress In Electromagnetics Research B,
Vol. 17, 6984, 2009.
19. Perez Lopez, J. R. and J. Basterrechea, Hybrid particle swarmbased algorithms and their application to linear array synthesis,
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 90, 6374, 2009.
20. Morabito, A. F., T. Isernia, M. G. Labate, M. DUrso, and
O. M. Bucci, Direct radiating arrays for satellite communications
via aperiodic tilings, Progress In Electromagnetics Research,
Vol. 93, 107124, 2009.
21. Bukhsh, W. A., B. L. G. Jonsson, and P. Persson, Element
position perturbation for a narrow spot beam with applications to
satellite communication antennas, Progress In Electromagnetics
Research, Vol. 104, 283295, 2010.
22. Zhou, H. J., B. H. Sun, J. F. Li, and Q. Z. Liu, Ecient
optimization and realization of a shaped-beam planar array
for very large array application, Progress In Electromagnetics
Research, Vol. 89, 110, 2009.