The use of infinitesimal dipoles and the spherical wave expansion for planar antennas modeling

In this paper, a method to derive an equivalent radiation model for planar antennas is presented. This method uses the spherical near-field (NF) data (measured or computed) to ascertain an equivalent set of infinitesimal dipoles placed over the main antenna surface. The spherical wave expansion (SWE) of the NF data is written in terms of infinitesimal dipoles using a transition matrix. This matrix expresses the linear relations between the spherical wave coefficients of the antenna and the spherical wave coefficients of each dipole. Once the excitation of each dipole is known, the field at any angle and distance from the antenna is rapidly calculated even inside the minimum sphere. Computations with EM simulation data of an antenna array illustrate the reliability of the method.