RESOLVING POWER OF THREE ANTENNA PATTERNS DERIVED FROM THE SAME APERTURE

Abstract

Three antenna patterns are derived from the same linear aperture and may be described in terms of an angular spectrum of spatial frequencies ranging from zero to a common cutoff frequency. The band passes according to the shape of the spectrum are rectangular, triangular, and cosinusoidal for the three patterns, and give resolving powers respectively of 1.33, 1.00, and 1.05, in terms of the cutoff period. The rectangular band pass gives rise to the optimum antenna pattern and allows the Fourier components of a source from zero to cutoff frequency to be received with equal intensity and zero phase shift. Scanning curves of two equally intense point sources and a uniformly bright line are investigated.