A system comprising: a direct radiating array antenna including plurality of elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) disposed in an array, the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) configured to radiate radiofrequency, RF, energy to form a beam having multiple frequency channels (234, 234A, 234B, 234C, 234D); and one or more processors configured to generate an excitation plan for powering the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) to form the beam, the excitation plan assigning multiple corresponding beamforming coefficients to each element (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) in a first group (402, 404, 602) of the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C), each beamforming coefficient designating power allocated to the assigned element (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) for radiating RF energy at an associated frequency channel of the beam, wherein the excitation plan assigns the beamforming coefficients to provide a substantially uniform power distribution (324, 424, 314, 316, 318, 320) among the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) in the first group (402, 404, 602), and at least some of the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) in the first group (402, 404, 602) have different allocations of power among the multiple frequency channels (234, 234A, 234B, 234C, 234D) of the beam than other elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) in the first group (402, 404, 602); characterized in that the excitation plan partitions the elements in the array into the first group and a second group of multiple elements, whereby the excitation plan assigns beamforming coefficients to the elements in the second group to provide a substantially uniform power distribution among the elements in the second group at a different power level than a power level distributed to the elements in the first group. a direct radiating array antenna including plurality of elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) disposed in an array, the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) configured to radiate radiofrequency, RF, energy to form a beam having multiple frequency channels (234, 234A, 234B, 234C, 234D); and one or more processors configured to generate an excitation plan for powering the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) to form the beam, the excitation plan assigning multiple corresponding beamforming coefficients to each element (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) in a first group (402, 404, 602) of the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C), each beamforming coefficient designating power allocated to the assigned element (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) for radiating RF energy at an associated frequency channel of the beam, wherein the excitation plan assigns the beamforming coefficients to provide a substantially uniform power distribution (324, 424, 314, 316, 318, 320) among the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) in the first group (402, 404, 602), and at least some of the elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) in the first group (402, 404, 602) have different allocations of power among the multiple frequency channels (234, 234A, 234B, 234C, 234D) of the beam than other elements (122, 122A, 122B, 122C) in the first group (402, 404, 602); characterized in that the excitation plan partitions the elements in the array into the first group and a second group of multiple elements, whereby the excitation plan assigns beamforming coefficients to the elements in the second group to provide a substantially uniform power distribution among the elements in the second group at a different power level than a power level distributed to the elements in the first group.