Blindness angles in microstrip phased arrays patterns

This report describes the analysis of infinite arrays of printed dipoles. A rigorous and efficient moment method procedure is used to calculate the array impedance versus scan angle. The scan blindness phenomenon is observed and discussed. The analysis uses an equivalent circuit representation at the feed point location in the unit cell, which is derived from the moment method solution of the periodic problem. It is therefore applicable to all scan angles, arbitrary shaped structures, arbitrarily placed feed points, lossy conductors and dielectric substrates. This rigorous theory is capable of predicting the occurrence of blind spots. Measurements from a waveguide simulator of a scan blindness condition confirm the theory