Visualization of radiation-pattern characteristics of phased arrays using digital phase shifters

This article presents graphical investigations of the array factor of phased arrays with digital phase shifters. A software program, based on basic antenna array theory, has been developed in MATLAB to obtain the main array characteristics (array factor and directivity). The array factors of linear arrays of different sizes with different types of phase shifters have been studied as a function of the number of bits and the frequency. Unconventional two-dimensional color graphical representations are used to identify some characteristics of the array factor of arrays with digital phase shifters that can not be so clearly and quickly visualized with conventional graphical representations. In particular, the effects of quantization on the array factor for arrays of different sizes and for phase shifters with different numbers of bits, over scanning, and frequency ranges, are shown using this representation. Numerous data are also provided.