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A study of the maximally sparse large planar arrays with electrically large elements is presented. The conditional probabilities of the element placements and their resulting auxiliary radiation integrals are derived. Through them the average and the directivity pattern formulas are also derived. Employing these formulas, we present a convex method that provides a solution to the maximally sparse problem when main lobe constraints are imposed on the directivity pattern. In particular, by taking the possible types of elements into account, we manage to obtain the lower bound of the directivity that an array should exhibit. This lower bound is analytically derived in the form of a Pareto (sub-) set that classifies the possible arrays into feasible and nonfeasible ones. This Pareto set can also enable tradeoff studies to be conducted without the need to consider the full range of every parameter. From the procedure, several acceptable combinations of elements are obtained. Simulation results, which confirm the methodology, are presented.

The design of a base station antenna for mobile communications is presented. The orthogonal method (OM) is applied under constraints on nulls of the radiation pattern. In the synthesis process the mutual coupling between the elements of the antenna array could be taken into account. Beam tilting and direction of arrival are also considered. The whole design is completed by implementing a special architecture of the antenna. Finally, some examples show the applicability of our technique.

Our activity has to do with the design of Direct Radiating Arrays (DRA) for satellite communications. The objective is to have a reduced number of controls in order to minimize the manufacturing and operating complexity. The DRAs will create a set of simultaneously overlapped multi-beams in the frequency range of 20 GHz and will satisfy certain specifications (End of Coverage (EOC) gain, grating and side lobe levels). Radio-Communications Laboratory (RCL) shall consider the DRA design and shall mainly optimize the geometry of the array and develop the appropriate software tool. The design methods which are going to be used are the Fractal Technique and the Orthogonal Method(OM) in conjunction with the Orthogonal Perturbation Method (OPM). Some preliminary examples are presented and show the effectiveness of the design methods.