Deterministic Constrained Synthesis Technique for Conformal Aperiodic Linear Antenna Arrays—Part I: Theory

A deterministic approach to the synthesis of a general aperiodic arc or ring antenna array is presented and thoroughly detailed in this paper. The proposed technique, which is based on the auxiliary array pattern (AAP) concept, is aimed at the semianalytical determination of the optimal excitation tapering and array element angular distribution for mimicking a given radiation pattern mask, without resorting to any optimization procedure. This, in turn, enables a dramatic reduction in design times. The developed technique is validated by application to the synthesis of antenna arrays featuring different radiation pattern masks typically adopted in satellite communications and radar applications; the relevant results are reported in Part II.