Antennas and Arrays

Abstract

This chapter opens with a brief review of some basic considerations of antennas. The main part of the chapter is concerned with the configurations of antennas in interferometers and synthesis arrays. It is convenient to classify array designs as follows:

Manx Arrays: Perfect Non‐Redundant Interferometric Geometries

“…The 1‐D case is the Golomb ruler, which is a set of specific integer positions along a line such that no two pairs of points are the same distance apart (Golomb & Taylor, 1984). This is specifically applicable to earth rotation aperture synthesis (Arsac (1955), cited in [Thompson et al., 2017]).…”

“…The beam pattern intensity I ( l , m ), for the array can be determined using a discrete Fourier transform (Thompson et al., 2017): $$$I(l,m)=\int \int {e}^{2\pi i(ul+vm)}\,\mathrm{d}l\mathrm{d}m$$$ where u , v are the coordinates in the Fourier domain and l , m are the coordinates in the image domain (which is a plane normal to the boresight vector). This is shown in Figure 3, centered on the zeroth antinode and with the axes extended sufficiently to show the first antinodes.…”

“…The general use of interferometry in a radio astronomy context can be explored in (e.g., Thompson et al., 2017). In such an interferometer, the correlation of the signal (measured E‐field) incident at each pair of antennas is determined.…”

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In radio astronomy and other applications where radio interferometry is employed, it is common to want to select the placement of antennas (interferometric array elements) to obtain some form of optimal response function.The general use of interferometry in a radio astronomy context can be explored in (e.g., Thompson et al, 2017). In such an interferometer, the correlation of the signal (measured E-field) incident at each pair of antennas is determined.

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