Design of Uniform and Nonuniform Circular Arrays Comparison with FFA and RLS

Multiple antennas can be arranged in various geometrical configurations to form antenna array with high directive radiation pattern. Linear antennas are limited in their steering capability. The circular arrays are more popular in recent years over other array geometries because they have the capability to perform the scan in all the directions and considerable change in the beam pattern which provide 3600 total coverage. Circular arrays are less sensitive to mutual coupling as compared to linear and rectangular arrays since they do not have edge elements. They can be used for beam forming in the azimuth plane for example at the base stations of the mobile radio communication systems as the components for signal processing. FFA design method of circular apertures for narrow beam width and low side lobes has been reported by Taylor. It includes the development of continuous circular aperture distributions, which contain only two independent parameters, A & n , where A is related to the design of side lobe level and n is a number controlling the degree of uniformity of the side lobes.