Abstract:
The active impedances and the currents of the elements in planar finite phased arrays of
dipoles show the presence of scan dependent interference pattern between more than
one wave. The first wave is the forced scanned space wave excited by the generators (or
the wave corresponding to an incident plane wave) and the other waves are traveling
waves on the planar dipole antenna array surface. The phenomenon of traveling waves
on the array surface is investigated by searching for natural waves that can propagate on
an infinite dipole array, where the natural waves are obtained as the source-free solution
of the infinite array problem. The study reveals the presence of surface and leaky waves
of different types. The effects of the array parameters on these traveling waves are
investigated. These traveling waves are found to interpret many of the interference
phenomena encountered.