Antennas and Microwaves

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Matlab Phased Array Design Toolbox V2.3

The easiest way to introduce this is probably to quote the abstract from my paper that documents the theory of operation of the toolbox. Progress to the current version is recorded in the changelog.txt, which can be viewed by clicking Changelog

ABSTRACT

In recent years the advances in computer technology has led to increasing use of numerical techniques in the design and development of antennas and related technology. Of particular prevalence are full wave microwave solvers, used to obtain the current densities on and thereby radiated fields for arbitrary structures.  However, despite the increases in computer power, array antennas can be electrically very large and therefore still represent a significant analysis problem. As the number of elements in the antenna array increases, its radiated characteristics tend to be dominated by the geometric layout and excitation of the component elements, rather than the elements themselves.  

Using simple mathematical models for the element radiation patterns, combined geometrically in the far field, the performance of large arrays can be calculated with reasonable accuracy for significantly less computational effort. A Matlab toolbox has been developed to enable rapid definition and analysis of  2D and 3D antenna arrays, comprising array elements such as dipole, microstrip patch, helix or any user defined element pattern function. This paper documents the theory used in the toolbox.

The whole paper can be downloaded in .pdf format from  here.  Download Paper  

It contains a fairly comprehensive introduction, so I will not reiterate it here.

All m-files in the toolbox have help-comments and there are numerous example scripts. The files are split between several folders. The zipped files can be downloaded from here. Download ArrayCalc  To look at just the contents.m  file Click Here .

To add the ArrayCalc toolbox to MATLAB :

UnZip the files, resulting in a directory structure

that should look like this :

% Directories : ArrayCalc

%                       |___Beam_synthesis

%                       |___Element_indexing

%                       |___ Element_models

%                       |___ Examples

%                       |___ Geometry_construction

%                       |___ Plotting_visualisation

%                       |___ Subroutines

%                       |___ Validation

Ideally the path to ArrayCalc should be :

c:\matlab\toolbox\ArrayCalc

If not then the validation examples val1-6 & ex3 will

not run, the path to the NEC output files will need to be

changed in LoadNecPat1.m in the Validation directory.

Type help LoadNecPat1 for more information.

Once copied into the MATLAB directory the appropriate

paths will have to be added in the usual way.

help ArrayCalc : Gives the contents file listing

help exlist : Lists the examples

val1....val6   : Run some validations against NEC2 results

Have fun !!!!!

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If you are you are planning a dynamic phased array i.e. one with controllable phase shifts as opposed to a fixed feed network then phase shifter design will be probably of interest. The following links should be useful :

RFIC.co.uk     A really good summary of the basic methods. See QUCS for modelling.

NASA paper   A good insight into the more exotic, state of the art stuff.

If you have any questions regarding the contents of this page, feel free to drop me a line, contact details are in the Chambres d’hotes section of the site. Whilst I do my best to avoid errors, I make no promises, I usually do my own little validations of software, freebie or paid for!

Some screen shots, click on thumbnails to enlarge.

(Each row is a separate model)

25 Element Dipole Array

2 Helix Interferometer

3 x 2 Patch Sector Antenna

6 Patch Panel Array