An Antenna Array

Antenna Arrays
Application Note CST STUDIO SUITE™

 Introduction
 Infinite Arrays
 Active Element Pattern
 Finite Arrays
 Farfield Array
 Simultaneous Excitation
 Combine Results
 Active Impedance
 Beam Steering
 CST Array Wizard
 Pattern Synthesis
 Beamforming networks
 Beam shape optimization
 Impressed Sources
Jfe, Dta / v 2.0 / 07. September 2012
 Installed Performance/Co-siteAnalysis
CST – COMPUTER SIMULATION TECHNOLOGY | www.cst.com
Introduction
Single Antenna Array antenna
Definition : An antenna Array is a configuration of individual radiating elements that are

arranged in space and can be used to produce a directional radiation pattern.
Advantage: Freedom of excitation

 Equal excitations: More gain
 Channel capacity ~log(N)
 Less expensive amplifiers
 Phased excitation:
 Multiple beams: Channel capacity ~(N)
 Adaptive beamforming
Antenna array terminology
 Element: One antenna element of the antenna array.
 Lattice: Spatial arrangement of the elements to form the array.
 Pattern Synthesis: Determine excitation function (amplitude & phase
of each element) to get the desired beam pattern (e.g. directivity,
shape, mainlobe direction).
 Mutual Coupling: Coupling from one element to others.
 Active Element Pattern: Radiation pattern from a single element in an
infinite array when all other elements are match terminated.
 Array factor = see next slide.

Array Factor
 
Definition: ArrayFacto r   An  e j ( k  xn er  n )
n
Electrical field of the total array by:
  
Etotal (er )  Esingle(er )  AF (er )  f corr
= . . f corr
Note: The pattern multiplication rule only applies for an array consisting of identical
elements.
Antenna Array Examples
Ready-to-simulate antenna arrays are available here:
Online Help ->
Examples and Tutorials
 CST MWS Examples  Transient Analysis Examples
 Antennas  Overview
For more information about antenna simulation please refer to the Application Note
„Antenna Simulation“ in the support area.
Array design approach
 Large arrays can be approximated by multiplying the Active Element Pattern by the Array
Factor since the interior elements will have the same (or very similar!) radiation pattern as
the Active Element Pattern  Use infinite array approach as starting point.
 Small arrays consist mostly of edge elements which causes this approach to be inaccurate.
Each element has a different radiation pattern  All elements need to be simulated.
Large array Small array

Edge elements
Edge elements
Interior elements
Interior elements

Infinite array approach
Emulate the situation of an infinite array with all the elements
driven simultaneously.
Pros:
 Requires the simulation of only a single element making the array
optimization process much faster in comparison to the corresponding
finite array case.
 Mutual coupling is included.
 Beam scanning is feasible.
Cons:
 No edge effects are taken into account

Infinite Arrays -> Boundaries
 Infinite arrays are generally modeled by setting the following boundary conditions:
 “Periodic” ( or ).
 “Unit Cell”( ).
 “Unit Cell” boundaries cause the “Open” boundaries to automatically be replaced with
Floquet Ports.
Infinite in N (N=1 to 3) directions: Always Infinite in X & Y direction:
1. “Linear” array “Planar” array
2. “Planar” array
3. “3D” array

Floquet Ports
 Floquet ports (Zmax, Zmin) are similar to waveguide ports in the sense that they absorb
the radiation from an element as Floquet modes (which are planewaves).
 This allows the user to obtain results similar to S-parameters, such as power transmission
from the excited mode to the radiated mode(s). This is not possible with a standard “Open”
boundary as there is no separation of the fields into their respective modes.

Infinite Arrays -> Phase shift
 Define a scan angle to point the beam in the desired direction.
 A phase shift between the boundaries will be automatically applied.
 The arrow indicates the scanning direction of the array.
 NOTE. Phase shift is supported only by . . is limited to normal incidence (θ=0°and φ=0°).

Infinite Arrays -> Lattice
 “Unit Cell” boundaries allow to specify arbitrary Grid Angles.
 Arbitrary Grid Angles, also referred to as Lattice Angles, can have advantages over
square lattices (Grid Angle= 90) such as a reduced number of elements for the same
performance.

Infinite Array -> Farfields
 When using “Unit Cell” boundaries, it is possible to make use of farfield monitors, however,
the interpretation of these results alone is not well defined. The farfield is calculated in a
similar way as a standard farfield calculation but it can also include some contributions from
neighboring elements (due to the inclusion of the sidewalls).
 To make the results more meaningful, it must be multiplied by the Array Factor (Farfield
Array feature can be used, see slide 13). This gives an approximation of how a large, finite
array will perform for the defined scan angle in the Unit Cell boundaries setup.
Array Factor

Active Element Pattern
 Use “Unit Cell” boundary conditions to represent the array as infinite.
 Parameterize the Theta scan angle (the parameter must be “theta”).
 Remember that this approach takes into account mutual coupling among the neighbor
elements.

 Set up a parameter sweep to vary the scan angle “theta”.
 Use the Phased Array Result template (TBP  Farfield Results  Phased Array Result) to
record the Active Element Pattern.

Phased Array Result template
 The “Phased Array Result” template makes use of these S-parameter-like results to
obtain the Axial Ratio, the Tilt and the Active Element Pattern.
Axial Ratio
sin 1 sin 2 sin  
1

cot   2
    TE  TM
Tilt TE
E A00
1  sin 2 cos      tan 1
 tan 1
tan 1   E TM
A00
2  cos 2 
Act. Elem. Pattern TE
A00  S Zmax
TE 00
,1
cos  
2
TE  A00
TE
TM
A00  S Zmax
TM 00
,1
cos  
2
TM  A00  TE  S Zmax
TM TE 00
,1
Total   A00 TM 2 
 cos    TM  S Zmax
2
TE
 A00 TM 00
  ,1

Total reflection at 45 degrees No radiation at 45 degrees
Scan Blindness
 At this point, multiplying by the Array Factor will yield a nice approximation of how the large,
but finite, array will perform.
 The validity of this approximation can be checked by creating a finite array and exciting the
center element.
Near Field representation
Theta = 30 degrees Theta = 45 degrees
Radiation Surface wave

Finite Array Analysis
 The Active Element Pattern approach can be used to approximate a large array.
 Constructing a finite array and making it progressively larger reveals good correlation
between the Active Element Pattern and the center element pattern when the array is large
enough (in this case, larger than 25x25).
 The active element pattern curves of smaller arrays show oscillations due to the edge
effects.

Farfield Array
 Select Farfield Result in the Navigation Tree  Right click  Farfield Properties
 Here the radiation pattern from a single element is made into a 25x25 array.

Farfield Array
Comparing with a full simulation of a 25x25 array
Array Factor
Main lobe steered to 0° Main lobe steered to 30° Main lobe steered to 45°
25 x 25
Array Factor
Farfield Array
 The Farfield Array feature can be automatically applied using the Template Based
Postprocessing engine.
 This can be quite useful for quick optimization of array performance after simulating only
one element.

Simultaneous Excitation
 Time Domain  Selection  Excitation List
 All elements are stimulated simultaneously keeping the run time relatively low.
 Output 1D Results -> F-Parameters (Active S-Parameters).
 Please note that with default settings the results are only valid for the given set of
excitation conditions (amplitudes, phases, reference frequency)!
 See next slide for broadband phase shift.

Brodband phase shift
 The broadband phase shift feature (Time Domain solver  Specials) maintains the
specified phase shift over a range of frequencies.
Peak LHCP Directivity Error %
Reference frequency: 1.87GHz

Excellent accuracy down to ~ 0.75GHz
Combine Results
 If the complete scattering matrix is known (all ports and modes were excited!), these results
can be combined with arbitrary excitation conditions. Select:
1) Results  Combine Results or
2) TBP  2D and 3D Field Results  Combine 3D Result.
 NOTE. “Combine results” can be performed also on farfield sources (. ).
1) 2)

Combine Results
 After the execution of the postprocessing operation, a new entry with the defined excitation
string will be added to the Navigation Tree under 2D/3D Results and to Farfield.
 This postprocessing step can be repeated indefinitely enabling optimization of the radiation
pattern. A new entry with a different excitation string will be added to the navigation tree.
.
.

High Performance Computing
The very long serial simulation of all ports can be speed up by means of:
 GPU computing.
 Distributed Computing (see example below).
CST STUDIO frontend Port 1

with 22 port model
Port 2
Port 3
……
……
Port 22
For more information about High Performance Compunting inside CST STUDIO SUITE
please refer to the a specific section of the Help On-Line Simulation Acceleration
Sim. Excitation v. Comb. Results
 Both of these approaches can yield the exact same results but the most appropriate choice
depends on the situation.
 In general, it is best to use Simultaneous Excitation when the number of ports and modes is
greater than the number of desired excitation setting combinations.
 This determination becomes more complicated when Acceleration options (Distributed
Computing, MPI, and GPU Computing) are considered.
Main lobe steered to 30° Main lobe steered to 45°

Active Impedance
 TBP  General1D  Combine 1D Results.
 Similar to combining field results, 1D results can also be combined using the Combine 1D
results template.
 Calculation of the active impedance or S-parameter under arbitrary excitation conditions.

Antenna Array Summary
The total farfield of an antenna array can be calculated
in four different ways:
 Unit Cells (FD-Solver ) + Array Factor
 Periodic Cells (TD-Solver , FD-Solver ) + Array Factor
 Complete simulation of the array ( + GPU)
 Array Factor

Beam Steering
 This is often accomplished by applying a progressive phase shift, y, between neighboring
elements in the array along a particular coordinate axis.
 For regular, planar arrays, this phase shift (in degrees) can be calculated with:
 360 f
  d x  xsin  cos   d y sin  sin  
c
f  frequency
c  speed of light
d x  element spacing in the x-direction
d y  element spacing in the y-direction
x  row offset (non-rectangular lattice)
  beam steering angle along theta axis
  beam steering angle along phi axis
Beam Steering
 Below is an example of this calculation with a 90 degree lattice and 14.99 mm
element spacing at 10 GHz steering the beam to q = 45 degrees.
 36010e9
  0.01499  0sin 45cos0  0 sin 45sin 0  127.2824
2.9979e8
 Thus, each element in the first row will have a progressive phase shift of -127.2824°.
 For the second row, the dy term changes as shown below:
0 sin45sin0  0.01499 sin45sin0
 The phase values for various excitations can be seen in the Simultaneous Excitation and
Combine Results dialogs on the previous slides.
 For arrays with many ports, entering all the values in these dialogs can be cumbersome.
The CST Array Wizard is helpful for this.

Antenna Array Wizard
For more information refer to <CST installation folder>\Library\Macros\Wizard 

“Array Wizard Users Guide.ppt”
Array Wizard
 In addition, an ASCII file can be used to specify arbitrary element locations, orientations
and excitations to facilitate non-uniform and non-planar arrays.
 Synthetized array distribution matrix exported from ANTENNA MAGUS
can be imported.

Array Wizard –> Specials
 It allows for advanced customization of the excitation settings and array geometry such as:
Quantization Error, Polarization settings, Amplitudes on Pedestal and Spill-over handling.
360
Phase Quantization Step 
2NP
N P  Number of Phase bits
Quantization
lobes
Maximum Attenuation  2 NA

 1 LSB
N A  Number of Amplitude bits no phase bits 4 phase bits
Pattern Synthesis
 The Excitation Settings of the CST Array Wizard allows some common pattern synthesis
techniques to be implemented and fill in the Farfield Array, Simultaneous Excitation, and
Combine Results dialogs automatically.
 Pattern synthesis can be thought of as laying a spatial filter over the aperture of the array
and then sampling the values.
 Example. A linear array with a triangular amplitude distribution shown below. The excitation
for the center element would have an amplitude of 1 and taper linearly down to zero as you
progress away from the center element.
1
Amplitude

Pattern Synthesis
 For planar arrays, the concept is the same, but it’s now in two dimensions as shown below.
 The CST Array Wizard offers the following pattern synthesis techniques:
 Uniform
 Binomial
 Cosine
 Cosine^2
 Chebyshev
 Taylor
 User Defined

Pattern Synthesis
 Some details of how to calculate the excitation amplitude for each element is shown below:
Uniform: sets all port amplitudes to 1.
am  x  
N  1! N  number of linear array elements
Binomial:
m!N  1  m ! m  0,1, ..., N  1
Cosine and     L  Length of the linear array

am ( x)  cos x am ( x)  cos 2  x 
Cosine^2: L  L  x  Distance from the array center

Pattern Synthesis
Chebyshev:   NT 1 2

a
For N T odd: m 
2
 r  2  T M z 0 cos s N T cos 2 ms N 
T  m  0,1, 2, ..., NT  1 2
NT  s 1 
2  NT 2 1

For N T even: am  r  2  TM z0 coss NT cos2m  1s NT  m  0,1, 2, ..., NT 2  1
NT  s 1 
N T  Number of linear array elements M  NT  1
r  relative sidelobe level (linear scale) 
z0  cosh 1 M cosh 1 r 
Taylor (often referred to as the Taylor one-parameter distribution):
 I 0  modified Bessel function of the first kind
 x 
2
 
I 0 B 1   2  

L  length of the linear array
 L 

I 0 z   
0.25z 
2 k
 
ax  
I 0 B  x  distance from the center of the array k 0 k!2
B  parameter to set the relative sidelobe level
Since Bessel functions are not a standard VBA function, the equivalent summation shown to
the right is used and truncated when the remaining terms are less than 1e-9.
Beamforming Networks
 Beamforming Networks come in a variety of implementations.
 Fixed beamforming techniques produce a particular beam shape that does not change and
thus can be implemented with passive hardware.
 Adaptive beamforming techniques continuously change the beam shape to achieve a
particular result. For example, the beamforming network might be changed to obtain a
cleaner received signal (steer the beam) or to filter out an unwanted signal (place a null
at a particular direction). The operating principle of several common fixed beamforming
techniques are described in the slides that follow.
Fixed Beamforming techniques: Adaptive Beamforming techniques:

 Butler Matrix  Least Mean Squares (LMS)
 Blass Matrix  Steepest Descent Algorithm
 Rotman lens  Successive Projection Algorithm
 …  …

Butler Matrix
The Butler Matrix makes use of phase shifters and 90 degree hybrids (alternately, power
dividers could be used) as shown in the 2- and 4-port implementations below.
2-port Butler Matrix
4-port Butler Matrix

45°

Butler Matrix
8-port Butler Matrix 67.5° 45°
22.5°
67.5°

Butler Matrix
The Butler Matrix can be used to create a single beam by exciting a single port, or multiple
beams by exciting multiple ports.
Simultaneous excitations at Ports 1, 4,

Excitation at Port 3 (phase shift = 112.5°) and 7 (phase shifts = 22.5°, -67.5°,
and 157.5° respectively)

Blass Matrix
The Blass Matrix operates in a similar manner as the
Butler matrix in the sense that single or multiple beam
can be created, but uses time-delay elements instead of
phase shifters making it suitable for broadband operation.
Horizontal: Same lengths
Vertical: Different lengths

Rotman Lens
 A Rotman lens is a time-delay device that can
be used to create multiple beams in a linear Dummy ports
array.
 It consists of four basic parts: lens region,
beam ports, array ports, and dummy ports.
Often times, ports are tapered (not shown
here).
Array ports
Beam ports
 The Dummy ports are typically intended to be
match terminated to minimize reflections and
are sometimes replaced with absorbing Lens region
material.
 It can be realized in a variety of technologies
including microstrip, stripline, and
waveguide.
 An excitation at one of the beam ports will
result in a particular phase distribution across
the array ports (which feed the antenna
elements). Thus, each beam port will create
a unique beam in the farfield pattern. Dummy ports
Beam Shape Optimization
 Optimizing the beam shape is possible using Combine Results and the Diversity Gain and
Correlation (from farfield) result templates.
 This may be desired for a variety of reasons, for example, if designing a satellite, one
might want the main beam of the radiation pattern to only cover a particular country.
All amplitudes = 1 Amplitudes = ????
How can I achieve a

pattern like this?

First use Macros  Results  Load 3D Field Result, to create the desired beam shape within
MWS.
Desired beam shape

 In the template based postprocessing engine, set up the Combine 3D Results template with
parameters for the amplitudes at all the ports.
 Then set up the Diversity Gain (from farfield) template to compute the Correlation
Coefficient of the current beam shape and the desired beam shape.
Parameters for
amplitude weights
Desired beam shape

Use Template Based Postprocessing as the Simulation type in the optimizer
Desired beam shape
with the goal of obtaining a correlation coefficient = 1.
Template Based
Postprocessing as a
“Simulation type”
Parameters for
amplitude weights
Initial beam shape Achieved beam shape

Impressed Sources: Nearfield
 One type of impressed source is a Nearfield Source.
 The general idea is to monitor E- and H-fields on a six sided surface and use these fields as
a source in a subsequent simulation.
 Once the source fields are known, the detailed source geometry can be removed/replaced
with anything (surface equivalence principle). A Field Source monitor needs to be
defined (in the exact same way as a standard E-field monitor) to create a Nearfield Source.
= +

Validation: Compare the results of the full simulation (array and radome) to the results
of the nearfield source (field source and radome).
 14 hours  7 hours

 Only a single frequency is shown but the source can be broadband.
 Nearfield sources can shorten the simulation time by allowing a reduced meshcell count
and a larger time step.

Impressed Sources: Farfield
 Another type of impressed source is referred to as a Farfield Source.
 Farfield Sources are monochromatic (single frequency) making them well suited to the I-
and A-solvers.
 The antenna geometry can be replaced with a Farfield Source to reduce model complexity,
protect intellectual property, etc.
 A Farfield source can come from anywhere (measurements, other software, etc.), as long as
the data is in the correct format. From within Microwave Studio, open the Farfield Plot
Properties and click “Save As Source…”.
Cassegrain reflector
Horn fed Cassegrain antenna with farfield
reflector antenna source

Impressed Sources: Farfield
Validation: Compare the farfields from the two scenarios shown on the previous slide.

Installed Performance/Co-site Analysis
 Farfield sources can be quite useful for installed performance simulations.
 Rather than simulating all the details, use a farfield source to represent the array.
Nose cone modeled as sheet

impedance of 377 Ω-□

Installed Performance/Co-site Analysis
 If the I-solver is used, S-parameters will also be calculated to quantify the coupling
 between the farfield source and the ports.

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Antenna Arrays

Application Note CST STUDIO SUITE™

Definition : An antenna Array is a configuration of individual radiating elements that are

Advantage: Freedom of excitation

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Large array Small array

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Theta = 30 degrees Theta = 45 degrees

Radiation Surface wave

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Reference frequency: 1.87GHz

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CST STUDIO frontend Port 1

Main lobe steered to 30° Main lobe steered to 45°

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For more information refer to <CST installation folder>\Library\Macros\Wizard 

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Uniform: sets all port amplitudes to 1.

Cosine and     L  Length of the linear array

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Fixed Beamforming techniques: Adaptive Beamforming techniques:

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2-port Butler Matrix

4-port Butler Matrix

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Simultaneous excitations at Ports 1, 4,

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Horizontal: Same lengths

Vertical: Different lengths

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All amplitudes = 1 Amplitudes = ????

How can I achieve a

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Desired beam shape

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Desired beam shape

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Nose cone modeled as sheet

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