Method for estimating the geometric parameters of the radiating aperture of a deployable phased antenna array
Authors: Fedorov D. S. 
Published: October 2024

The effectiveness of the functioning of radio engineering systems largely depends on the possibility of providing the specified directional parameters of the antenna systems used in their composition. For large-sized deployable antenna arrays operating as part of autonomous radio engineering complexes, the problem of maintaining the specified directional parameters is especially relevant due to possible errors in the installation of the antenna array phase centers after deployment. The purpose of this work was to develop a method for estimating the position of the phase centers of antenna elements in the radiating aperture of a phased array antenna array based on the results of measuring the phases of signals received from a source in the far zone. In the general formulation, a method has been developed that allows, based on the results of measurements of the phases of signals received from a source in the far zone, to determine the geometry of the radiating aperture of a phased array antenna. Subsequently, the obtained geometric parameters make it possible to adjust the amplitude-phase distribution to preserve the parameters of the generated radiation pattern. It has been shown that the use of the developed method allows, based on the results of measuring the phases of signals received from a source in the far zone, to determine the actual position of phase centers of antenna elements in the radiating aperture of the phased array after deployment, on the basis of which correction of the amplitude-phase distribution is performed, which allows reducing the deviation of the generated radiation pattern from the set one due to errors in antenna deployment. The following main results have been obtained: 1. The obtained relations make it possible to reduce the problem of estimating the geometric parameters of the radiating aperture of the deployed phased array based on the results of phase measurements at the outputs of antenna elements to solving an overridden system of linear algebraic equations with respect to unknown errors in the angles of deployment of sections of the phased array. 2. The conducted studies of accuracy of estimating the geometric parameters of the radiating aperture of the phased antenna array and formation of the radiation pattern showed: with an increase in the number of antenna elements in the section and, accordingly, in the radiating aperture of the phased array, the standard deviation of the error estimate decreases according to the law ~N–0,5; with an increase in the accuracy of estimating the angles of deployment of sections of a phased array antenna array with an increase in the number of antenna elements in the section, the accuracy of forming a radiation pattern for antennas which section size is largest in the direction perpendicular to the axis of deployment may decrease. This is due to an increase in the number of antenna elements, for which the error of their contribution to the radiation pattern compared to the standard deployment it's harder to compensate.