Shaped Beam Synthesis with Peripherally Excited Phased Arrays

The Peripherally Excited phased array has been studied as a useful device for scanning a beam through two dimensions, with a simple structure and reduced number of phase shifters. The antenna uses peripheral sources to excite waves in a leaky cavity, which radiate directive scanning beams. This work investigates how using input amplitude control as a degree of freedom allows for the synthesis of shaped beams. Through a simple model of fields in the cavity, a linear system of equations can be constructed and solved for a desired aperture excitation. Examples of binomial and Chebyshev beams, scanned and at broadside show good agreement between theory and simulation.