Study of Exact and High-Frequency Code Solvers for Applications to a Conformal Cylindrical Dipole Array

Shaun D. Walker1 , Deb Chatterjee1

Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, School of Computing and Engineering, University of Missouri Kansas City, 5100 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO, 64110, USA swdy7@umkc.edu, chatd@umkc.edu
1

Abstract: In this paper the scan element pattern of the center element excited in an electrically large (ka = 30), 7-element, conformal cylindrical dipole array is calculated using MoM and MLFMM solvers available in WIPL-D and FEKO softwares, respectively. Comparisons with the high-frequency NECBSC code indicate good overall agreement, except in the creeping wave regions in the deep shadow of the cylinder. Keywords: FEKO, WIPL-D, conformal array, creeping wave 1. Introduction It is well known that calculation of scan (or embedded) element patterns for electrically large conformal arrays [1] need increased computational resources as the frequency increases [2, ch. 4]. The subject of this paper is to investigate techniques for ecient computation of scan element patterns for electrically large conformal arrays including mutual coupling eects [3]-[6]. The NECBSC high-frequency code [7], which contains the UTD Greens function is most suitable for such purposes, and hence combining the features of FEKO [4] or WIPL-D [6] with NECBSC [7] for devising a ecient computational strategy is the main purpose of this paper. The limitations of the proposed method have not been fully explored in this initial investigation. However, one of the probable serious limitation appears to be tied to the approximations in the UTD formulations in the NECBSC code [7]. This aspect is currently under investigation, following preliminary results presented in [8]-[10]. The problem, methodology and results are described next. 2. Problem Description and Solution Methodolgy A. Problem Description The geometry of the conformal cylindrical dipole array is shown in Fig. 1. For an array with large number of elements the total array element pattern in the radiation zone is generically written as:
N ejkr Cn ejn . gelm (, ) F(r, , ) = r n=1

(1)

Z Y

Y a X

s (Top View)

Dipole Element Location

Complex weight

Dipole Element Length L

Subdomain Basis Functions

Figure 1: Geometry of a conformal cylindrical array of dipoles; the cylinder radius is ka and the 2 b dipoles have an inter-arc spacing of , and are o the PEC curved surface of the cylinder by a s distance . In the present problem, only a single arc-ring, 7-element, azimuthally located dipole array is considered. Here, b = , = a + s, and = 2 where N is the total number of dipole N elements in the ring.

in (1) indicates the (complex) array factor of N elements with complex (current or voltage) The excitations Cn ; n is the phase at nth element. The gelm (, ) is the embedded element pattern of a single element while all other elements are terminated in a matched load. Obviously, this quantity varies across a nite array because the elements close to the array edges see a dierent environment than the ones at the center. It is implicit that gelm (, ) contains the eects of the mutual coupling from neighboring elements. B. Solution Methodology Calculation of gelm (, ) using NECBSC for large conformal cylindrical arrays is the focus of this work. To that end, a possible strategy is to use EM codes using exact integral equation solvers such as in [4] or [6] to determine the currents on the dipole elements when all are match terminated in the 50 load with the central element is excited. The FEKO uses a linear/triangular subdomain basis function on each of the segments on the dipoles [3, pp. 453, Eq. (8-40)]. The WIPL-D uses higher order basis functions and expresses the dipole current as a polynomial [6, p. 4-12, Eq. (4.23)]. Earlier analysis [8],[9] showed that a conformal cylindrical dipole array characteristics can also be accurately modeled using entire domain (cosine) basis functions on the dipoles. Incidentally, in NECBSC one of the options for source modeling is to use the cosine distribution [7, p. 14]. Consequently, the complex excitation at the center location of each of the dipole elements in the array were obtained from WIPL-D and FEKO and then used to model the dipole current (magnitude and phase) in the NECBSC. It is emphasized that these complex current excitations contain the eect of mutual coupling. Thus, in the NECBSC code the antennas are replaced by their equivalent currents and would radiate elds which can be compared using WIPL-D and FEKO.

3. Results and Discussion The results are shown in Figs. 2 to 6. Since the central problem is to compute the currents on the dipoles in presence of the PEC cylinder, it is natural to examine if the WIPL-D and FEKO can yield physically valid results. Thus, it is assumed that as the cylinder becomes larger the curvature eects shall be insignicant and the currents on the dipoles would closely resemble that of a planar surface that has zero curvature. To that end, results are shown in Figs. 2 thru 5. The FEKO and WIPL-D results for the center and edge dipole elements refer to the complex current excitation (amplitude and phase) on the central segment of the dipoles. (Each dipole, in FEKO, is segmented and the subdomain basis function is used.) The numerical data are included in the gure captions, and are omitted for brevity. The planar results in Figs. 2 thru 5 were obtained via FEKO [4]. In using FEKO the MLFMM solution option was chosen. The WIPL-D algorithm uses MoM. The MoM option in FEKO is available but was found to require signicant computer resources as compared to WIPL-D.

0.02 0.018 0.016 | in amps 0.014 0.012 0.01 0.008 0.006 FEKO WIPLD Planar

|I

central

0.5

1 s/

1.5

Figure 2: Current magnitude variation on the central segment of the excited dipole element located b L H at the array center; ka = 30, = 0.5, = 0.5 and cylinder height = 10.0. All other dipoles are terminated in a 50 load.

The results in Figs. 2 and 3 show remarkable agreement between the electrically large cylinder (ka = 30) and planar cases for the central excited dipole element in the 7-element array. In contrast, the results in Figs. 4 and 5 show marked disagreement. The reason for the disagreement is due to the fact that edgemost elements see dierent manifestation of the curvature eects when compared to the reference central element in the array. Also the central element has dipole (scatterers) on its sides, while the edge elements do not have such an environment. The scan element pattern is shown in Fig. 6. The results disagree prominently in the deep shadow region which according to UTD is dominated by creeping waves. The reasons for this dierence can be attributed to the fact that the exact solvers in the WIPL-D and FEKO codes

0.2 0 Phase of Icentral in degrees 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 0 0.5 1 s/ 1.5 2 FEKO WIPLD Planar

Figure 3: Phase variation on the central segment of the excited dipole element located at the array b L H center; ka = 30, = 0.5, = 0.5 and cylinder height = 10.0.All other dipoles are terminated in a 50 load.

2.5

x 10

FEKO WIPLD Planar

| in amps. |I

1.5

edge

0.5

0.5

1 s/

1.5

Figure 4: Current magnitude variation on the central segment of the dipole element (# 3) located at b L H the array edge; ka = 30, = 0.5, = 0.5 and cylinder height = 10.0. The central dipole element (# 0) is excited, with all others terminated in a 50 load

200 150 100 Phase of Iedge in degrees 50 0 50 100 150 200 FEKO WIPLD Planar

0.5

1 s/

1.5

Figure 5: Phase variation on the central segment of the dipole element (# 3) located at the array b L H edge; ka = 30, = 0.5, = 0.5 and cylinder height = 10.0. The central dipole element (# 0) is excited, with all others terminated in a 50 load

15 30 45 60 75

15 30

FEKO WIPLD NECBSC

45 60 75

90

90

105 120 135 150

60 40 20 150 165 0 180 165

105 120 135

Figure 6: Comparison of radiation patterns vs. azimuth angle , in the = 90 plane for a 7-element dipole array with central element excited and all others terminated in a 50 load. 2 s b L H ka = 30, = 0.25, = 0.5, = 0.5 and cylinder height = 10.0.

used a much more accurate form of the currents on the dipole elements, while in the NECBSC an approximate form of the dipole current was used. 4. Summary and Conclusion In this investigation, currents on the dipole elements on a conformal cylindrical array were calculated using the exact solvers in WIPL-D and FEKO. The central element was excited while all others were match terminated in a 50 load. An approximate form of current was then obtained for each dipole element from the FEKO and WIPL-D that was suitable for computation using the high-frequency NECBSC code. The results show that the currents on the elements in the central regions can be approximated by the corresponding planar limit cases. This approximation was found to be invalid for edge elements because the eect of the curvature and radiating environment is dierent across the various elements in the array. The scan element patterns from the three computations, viz., WIPL-D, FEKO and NECBSC have disagreements in the deep shadow regions, and is the subject of continuing investigation. One of the reasons attributed to such discrepancies is the obvious approximations in calculating the dipole currents for the NECBSC results included here. References [1] J. C. Herper, A. Hessel and B. Tomasic, Element Pattern of an Axial Dipole in a Cylindrical Phased Array, Part II: Element Design and Experiments, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., Vol. AP-33, pp. 273-278, March 1985. [2] L. Josefsson and P. Persson, Conformal Array Antenna Theory and Design. IEEE WileyInterscience, NY, USA, 2006. [3] C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design (3rd edition). John-Wiley & Sons, Inc., NY, 2005. [4] http://www.feko.info/, FEKO Users Manual (Suite # 5.3, July 2007). EM Software and Systems, Norfolk, VA, USA . [5] David B. Davidson, Computational Electromagnetics for RF and Microwave Engineering. Cambridge University Press, NY, 2008 (digital reprint) . [6] T. K. Sarkar, WIPL-D Users Manual, OHRN Enterprises, NY, USA. [7] R. J. Marhefka and J. W. Silvestro, Near Zone - Basic Scattering Code (Users Manual with Space Station Application), technical report # 716199-13, prepared for NASA, Hampton, VA, by the ElectroScience Laboratory, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA, March 1989. [8] S. D. Walker and D. Chatterjee, Surface Curvature Eects on Element Characteristics on Large, Finite, Conformal Cylindrical Dipole Arrays, Proc. IEEE Intl. Symp. Antennas and Propagat., (4 pages), July 5-11, 2008, San Diego, USA. [9] Shaun Walker, Surface Curvature Eects on he Scan Element Pattern of a Sector ElectricDipole Array above a Cylindrical PEC Surface, report submitted and accepted at the FEKO International Student Competition, September 2008. [10] S. D. Walker and D. Chatterjee, Studies on Development of Conformal Antennas and Arrays, nal technical report # ECE-UMKC08HNYWL-TR01 prepared for Honeywell Federal Manafacturing and Technologies (FM & T) under contract # 224256 and purchase order # EP16192, CSEE Dept., School of Computing and Engineering, UMKC, KC, MO, USA, September 2008.