A Flush-Mounted Quasi-Full-Space Beam-Scanning Cylindrical Phased Array

Abstract

A cylindrical phased array (CPA) for quasi-full-space wide-angle scanning is presented. The quasi-full-space scanning is achieved by combining a pattern reconfigurable technique with a subarray scanning method. The pattern reconfigurable technique achieves wide-angle scanning in the elevation plane of the cylindrical carrier, while the subarray scanning ensures omnidirectional coverage in the azimuth plane of the cylindrical carrier by employing the CPA circumferential elements. Furthermore, a covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) is used to optimize the quasi-full-space scanning performance. The proposed approach provides superior performance of sidelobe level (SLL < −6.1 dB), particularly small gain fluctuation (±0.75 dB) when scanning from −88°to +88° in the elevation plane of the cylindrical carrier, and smooth omnidirectional coverage with a gain fluctuation of only ±0.1 dB in the azimuth plane of the cylindrical carrier. The array supporting structure, including the control circuits, feed lines, p-i-n diode switches, and the radiating magnetic current elements are fabricated on or underneath the metallic ground plane.