Application Brief
How Complex Phased Array Antennas and Platforms Interact
Phased array antenna systems (PAAS) are used ubiquitously everywhere from defense radar applications to commercial applications like 5G/6G. PAAS require extensive analysis of antenna-antenna interaction, antenna-platform interactions and the effect of the movement of the installation platform on the PAAS performance.
In the early days, various customized codes based on computational electromagnetic methods (CEM) — like method of moments (MOM), finite element method (FEM), geometrical optics (GO), etc. — were developed to carry out antenna design and optimization, and for studying the platform vicinity and the environmental effects on PAAS.
With the advent of the commercial computational electromagnetic methods (CEM) tools provided by Ansys HFSS, the problem of customizing codes each time has been solved with a holistic tool for such analyses. Let’s look at the design and development of phased array antennas and analyze its performance on a moving platform like a naval ship. But first, some PAAS basics..