Pattern Analysis of Conformal Antenna Arrays via the Characteristic Modes of Isolated Elements

Abstract

A simple pattern analysis method is presented for conformal antenna arrays, considering mutual coupling effects based on the characteristic modes of isolated elements. There are many methods to analyze the performance of conformal antenna arrays, but they seldom provide a clear insight into the coupling mechanism. Thus, the overall characteristic modes of the conformal array are calculated from the characteristic modes of the isolated elements and coordinate transformation, which are different from the traditional modal analysis for the entire array. And the radiation field of the conformal array is given. The modal coupling matrix which depends on the structural parameters and relative pose of conformal elements is used to characterize the mutual coupling effect between elements and explain the coupling mechanism from the perspective of the characteristic currents. Finally, the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method is verified by some numerical examples.