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This contribution presents the results of a dual-polarized radiating element designed to achieve low cross-polarization (lower than −40 dB measured for the E-and H-plane, at least −30 dB in the D-plane based on simulations) and large fractional bandwidth (18%) over wide scanning angles (±60°). The proposed design includes multiple features that enable high isolation between ports, reduction of spurious radiation, highly symmetrical radiated fields, and suppression of diffracted fields between contiguous subarray gaps. To verify the polarimetric requirements for a weather radar, simulated and measured results, including electronic scanning of the array and embedded element patterns of the antenna, are shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing interest in polarization diversity in communications and radar systems, the use of Ludwig’s second and third definitions has become controversial among scientists and antenna engineers. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to clarify some of the ambiguity and confusion caused by these definitions. A detailed comparison of Ludwig’s second and thirrd definitions of cross polarization, as applied to linearly polarized antennas, was performed. The results show that, in the diagonal plane, Ludwig’s second definition leads to a lower cross-polarization level than the third definition for $x$ - or $y$ -polarized current sources. For a Huygens source, by Ludwig’s third definition, the radiation pattern has a lower cross-polarization level than that obtained by Ludwig’s second definition. For some applications, the antenna is usually placed in the $y{z}$ plane. Therefore, new polarization bases are proposed according to which the source is used as a reference, and also on how this source is oriented in the $y{z}$ plane. To complement the theoretical framework demonstrated in this contribution and to provide readers with a better and simpler understanding of the cross-polarization definition, the analysis of several practical antennas for diverse applications was presented. Numerical and measured radiation patterns of wire and printed dipoles, rectangular patch, pyramidal horn, and open-ended rectangular waveguide (OEWG) antennas were investigated according to the polarization formulations presented in this paper. In addition, a dual-polarized element and a dual-polarized active phased array at broadside were utilized to generalize the application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In dipole-antenna array signal-processing algorithm development, research has focused on “short dipoles” whose physical length ( $L$ ) is under (1/10) of a wavelength \lambda $ . Such electrically “short” dipoles have very small input impedances, rendering such “short” dipoles to be inefficient radiators. Practical dipoles, with an electrical length of ({L}/{\lambda }) \in [{0.1, 1}] , have notably larger input impedance, hence making them better radiators. Of such practical dipoles, this paper investigates their use for azimuth-polar direction finding and for polarization estimation. This paper will first present the measurement model (i.e., array manifold) of a triad of such practical dipoles, collocated in space and orthogonally oriented. This paper will then develop the corresponding closed-form algorithms to estimate the bivariate azimuth–elevation direction-of-arrival or the bivariate polarization. Such closed-form algorithms previously have been unavailable in the existing literature for such a triad of electrically “long” dipoles of pragmatic radiation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As active electronically steerable arrays become more prominent, a new paradigm of assigning bits to a set of digital phase shifters, necessary for analog and digital beamforming, is proposed. It is well known that a modern day digital phase shifter which is associated with each transmit/receive module typically relies on three to seven bits. Each of these phase shifters provide a desired resolution of 45^\circ to 2.8125^\circ, respectively. When an array is steered with a fixed precision set of phase shifters, there are some angles where results are significantly better than others. For example, six bit phase shifters can provide exact 11.25^\circdifferential phases in a linear array, but not 15^\circ, and subsequent quantization errors lead to reduced pointing accuracy and increased sidelobe levels. However, these errors can be minimized if the set of shifters operate collectively instead of independently with “blind” quantization. In particular this study seeks the solution for the following problem: for a set of N phase shifters, each defined by B bits, determine the optimal way to distribute the N\times B bits so that the array performance is maximized. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]