Bounds on the optimum performance of planar antennas for pulse radiation

The general problem of optimizing the design of planar electromagnetic pulse radiators is discussed. It is shown that bounds on the performance of such radiators can be determined by formulating field quantities as inner products and solving a variational problem. Results of a simple example are given where the bound on the peak electric field is found for a finite-sized radiator having a current distribution which is frequency band-limited. The bound on the peak electric field component along an arbitrary orientation of direction in the radiator's far field is also presented. These results provide insight into the synthesis of electromagnetic pulse radiators, but further work is necessary if the technique discussed here is to lead to the design of improved electromagnetic pulse antennas.