Efficiency as a measure of size of a phased-array antenna

This communication addresses the problem of estimating the minimum size a phased-array antenna must have in order that analyses based on simple infinite-array models yield meaningful results. The measure of array size proposed herein is an efficiency parameter defined for an infinite array with truncated excitations. Numerical results are presented for arrays of slots and dipoles, showing the rate of convergence of the efficiency parameter for various spacings and scan angles. The conclusions deduced from this analysis as to the minimum array size are in substantial agreement with exact computations dealing with finite arrays published in the literature.