PLANAR: a computer program for planar array antenna design

Whereas the computation of the radiation patterns for planar array antennas is relatively straightforward for simple elements and uniform illumination, the design of practical array antennas and the evaluation of candidate configurations are facilitated by computer modelling. The computer program PLANAR provides a method of modelling array antennas for a variety of element types and aperture distributions via a comprehensive set of input parameters. The program is interactive with facilities for defining, retrieving and editing sets of input parameters. The paper reviews the operation of PLANAR Version 5.0 and describes the types of array antenna which may be modelled. In addition, some comparisons between measured and predicted radiation patterns are also presented