Analysis of the stability of the properties of a linear antenna array under parabolic bending

The influence of the symmetrical bending of the profile of a linear antenna array along the arc of a parabola on its radiation pattern, efficiency, and consistency with the feeder is studied. The effects are demonstrated on the example of an 11-element model of an equidistant antenna array with different inter-element distances, for which an electrodynamic problem with boundary conditions for the electric and magnetic field vectors is numerically solved. The lattice was bent at a constant length along the arc of the parabola. Half of the angle of the aperture relative to the focus of the parabola is selected as the parameter that characterizes the profile. The study was carried out with in-phase equal-amplitude power supply of the grid elements. Estimates of the values of the best matching frequency and the best matching frequency offset when changing the bending profile are obtained, the dependence of the efficiency coefficient on the bending parameter, the horizontal and vertical cross-sections of the radiation patterns are constructed. The results show that with a decrease in the focal length, the efficiency is stable, while it deteriorates by no more than 0.1 dB, and the nature of the radiation changes from unidirectional to conical. The frequency parameters and the consistency with the feeder show a stable behavior when the profile is bent, but they change significantly when the inter-element distance changes.