FORMATION OF THE DIRECTION DIAGRAM IN PHASED ANTENNA ARRAY

The article presents the results of the study of phase and temporal methods in the formation of the direction diagram of phased antenna array, and carries out a comparative analysis using an eight-element equidistant antenna array based on Vivaldi wideband slot-hole emitters as example. The practical implementations of constructing devices for forming phased antenna array direction diagrams on phase shifters for the phase diagram generation method and on delay lines, for the temporal method, are considered. The characteristics of the most frequently used Analog Devices phase shifters in the phased antenna arrays, as well as experimental delay lines are given. The results of the mathematical modeling allowed estimating the bandwidth of both types of antenna arrays. Authors note that the phase method of beamforming is not widely used in broadband systems due to the dependence of the phase of a signal on the frequency and, as a consequence, the narrow range of operation of phase shifters. In delay lines, the delay time for all channels does not depend on the frequency component of the signal, which suggests that the beamforming devices based on the principles of time delay are ultra-wideband, and the maximum length of the signal delay path for extreme emitters depends only on the maximum calculated angle of beam deflection. Phased antenna arrays built using delay lines have not only greater bandwidth, but also greater attenuation of signals. In the manufacture of phased antenna arrays with a small number of antenna elements in the range, the use of delay lines as phase-shifting elements gives a significant gain in performance with a slight loss in power.

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