On sampling continuous aperture distributions for discrete planar arrays

The theory of sampling continuous distributions for the purpose of determining planar array excitation coefficients is examined. The cause of pattern degradation associated with conventional sampling is identified, and a new method called integrated sampling is introduced which provides superior results. Implementation details are given for the specific case of a rectangular grid planar array with a roughly circular boundary. Numerical examples are provided for both uniform and Taylor distributions in order to perform comparative studies and to demonstrate the advantages of the new technique.