Element-Independent Design of Wide-Angle Impedance Matching Radomes by Using the Generalized Scattering Matrix Approach

A rigorous and efficient approach for the design of radomes that are closely-spaced to the radiating aperture of a phased array is proposed. The method relies on a Generalized Scattering Matrix (GSM) description of both source and radome based on a Floquet modal expansion. The GSM of the unit cell of the radiating array is calculated only once. The radome, which is also frequently addressed as Wide-Angle Impedance Matching (WAIM), is optimized simply by iterating with a fast solver based on the Periodic Method of Moments. The effect of the antenna is taken into account through the connection of the GSM matrices. The proposed approach is sufficiently fast, versatile and highly rigorous as neither homogenization procedures nor equivalent circuits are exploited. In order to verify the validity of the proposed approach, numerous examples are provided. In addition, an analysis of the accuracy of the method determined by the number of the adopted modes is also presented.