Advanced Antenna Evaluation and Design Software with Radomes and Frequency Selective Surfaces

"The purpose of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to develop a computer aided design tool for large phased arrays including radomes and frequency selective surfaces. For this purpose, we will use the hybrid finite element (FEM) andmethod of moments (MoM) simulator that was developed at EMAG Technologies as part of our RECAP project. The simulation engine can handle both periodic and non-periodic structures. In order to analyze large phased arrays efficiently, adecompose-solve-recompose (DSR) technique is proposed that subdivides the entire array into interior and edge groups. The former is treated as a periodic structure, while the latter is solved as a regular non-periodic structure. The two solutions are thenrecombined in a systematic way to provide a fast but accurate overall solution. A visual software environment with design utilities such as parameter sweep and optimization will be developed to facilitate the usage of the code. The resulting software fromthis SBIR project will enable antenna designers to design very complex phased array systems including radomes and FSS. It will save time and cost in the design cycle by including the radome and FSS effects in the virtual prototyping."