A new approach to the design of linear series-fed printed arrays

We propose a new approach to the design of series-fed arrays. Both the mutual coupling and the patch-feedline interaction are taken into account and modelled using a small and simple set of "design equations". This set of equations leads to very simple design procedures which allow the effective synthesis of a given array factor. The approach we propose allows a very large flexibility both in the patch model and in the feed structure. In its actual version it is based on an improved transmission-line model but, despite of its simplicity, the designed arrays fulfils very well the requirements.