Infinite planar arrays of arbitrarily bent thin wire radiators

A plane wave expansion moment method is presented for computing active impedances and current distributions of infinite planar arrays of thin wire radiating elements. The array lattices can be rectangular or triangular. The excitations can be plane waves or progressively phased voltage sources. Each radiating element, including feedline, can be any collection of bent thin wires. Results are given for arrays of straight dipoles with straight feedlines, straight dipoles with bent feedlines, and swept back dipoles (arms inclined with respect to the array planes) with straight feedlines. The experimentally observed phenomenon of array blindness as a consequence of feedline scattering is verified theoretically. The absence of this effect when the dipole arms are inclined with respect to the array plane also is verified.