Enhanced Computer Analysis and Computer Aided Design (CAD) of Active Radio Frequency Antenna Arrays

The objective of this Small Business Innovation Research project is to lay the foundation of a CAD software tool for the design of large-scale active radio frequency antenna arrays. A circuit-based global modeling strategy is proposed that can integratethe analyses of spatially distributed electromagnetic structures, linear passive networks and nonlinear active circuits within a unified framework that can even incorporate thermal analysis self-consistently. The proposed strategy can be utilized in bothfrequency and time domains. In the Phase I feasibility study, we will interface a general-purpose planar structure simulator based on the method of moments with a general-purpose linear/nonlinear circuit simulator that uses a harmonic balance technique.The Phase I effort will be confined to the frequency domain and the time domain development for transient analysis is relegated to Phase II of the project. The object-oriented software architecture of emPiCASSO, our commercial antenna CAD tool, will beused as the foundation of the proposed software.Active antenna arrays are finding growing applications in radar and guidance systems and wireless communications. The proposed active antenna CAD tool will drastically facilitate the design of suchsophisticated systems. It can also be used for global modeling and design of any active microwave circuit.