Effect of error correlations and systematic errors on average array sidelobes

The effect of error correlations on the average error-induced sidelobe level of a planar array is studied. It is found that correlations among the random errors rapidly decrease the average error-sidelobe level (relative to the level when all errors are uncorrelated) as the correlation radius is increased. However, even though the average error-sidelobe level decreases, there are certain types of correlation that produce large local sidelobe increases. In particular, it is found that a one-dimensional correlation produces a large ridge of sidelobes in the plane orthogonal to the direction of the correlation. Simple results are derived from both the amplitude and the angular width of this ridge