Pulse-Shaping Strategy for Time Modulated Arrays—Analysis and Design

Time-modulated arrays (TMAs) are antenna systems where the transmitted or received signal is modulated by periodic time pulses. Several strategies have been proposed for defining the characteristics of the pulse sequence to control the antenna radiation pattern starting from the hypothesis of ideal radio-frequency (RF) switches with instantaneous rise and fall time. In this paper, the use of switches having a non-null transition between the on and off state is taken into account and the impact on the radiation features is studied and verified through a set of numerical results also in comparative fashion with ordinary rectangular pulses.