Cylindrical array beamforming based on ultra-wideband signals

Abstract

Conformal array antennas are very attractive for many applications interest, especially in space-born radar, navigation, and radio communications, where the allowable space for antenna platform is very limited. One type of conformal array antennas is the cylindrical array which can provide wide angular coverage in both the azimuth plane as well as the elevation plane. In this paper, the principle of cylindrical array beamforming based on ultra-wideband impulse (UWBI) waveforms is introduced. Antenna patterns, such as amplitude pattern and energy pattern, are derived for the cylindrical array as functions of array dimensions and signal bandwidth.