The synthesis of shaped patterns with series-fed microstrip patch arrays

A method of designing series-fed microstrip patch arrays to produce a shaped pattern is described. The technique is based on a circuit representation of the patches in the array environment with experimentally determined parameters. The positions and widths of the patches are derived from the amplitudes and phases of the elements of a uniform array, which produces the desired pattern and which has the same extent as the patch array. For the array to have high efficiency, the amplitude distribution must not be strongly peaked. An algorithm for obtaining an approximation to the desired far-field amplitude distribution while retaining control over the amplitude of excitation is presented. Very close agreement has been obtained between calculated and measured performance of such arrays.