Efficient analysis of finite antenna arrays using the Domain Green's Function Method

A Method-of-Moments (MoM) based approach for solving finite antenna arrays is presented, viz. the Domain Green's Function Method (DGFM). The DGFM is a perturbation approach where mutual coupling between array elements is accounted for during the formulation of the Green's function for each element. The active current distribution on the entire array geometry is obtained by solving the localized problem of each element independently, leading to a significant saving in both run-time and memory usage. The method also takes into account the edge effects attributed to the finite size of the array, complex excitations with non-linear phase shift and is not limited to periodic array configurations.

I. Introduction

The efficient numerical analysis of finite antenna arrays has received much attention over the last decade. Small to moderate sized arrays can be analyzed using full-wave meth-ods such as the Method-of-Moments (MoM). For electrically large array configurations, the MoM however results in very long simulation run-times and significant memory usage. To this end, a variety of approximation techniques have been developed to simulate large array configurations, e.g. the infinite array plus spectral windowing method [1], macro basis function techniques such as the Characteristic Basis Function Method (CBFM) [2] and the Synthetic Function Expansion (SFX) method [3] and also iterative techniques such as the Adaptive Integral Method (AIM) [4] and the precorrected Fast Fourier Transform (pFFT) method [5].