conformalArray

Create conformal array

Description

The conformalArray object creates a conformal array of the specified antenna, array, or shape. You can also specify an array of any arbitrary geometry, such as a circular array, a nonplanar array, an array with nonuniform geometry, or a conformal array of arrays.

Conformal arrays are used in:

• Direction-finding systems that use circular arrays or stacked circular arrays.

• Aircraft systems due to surface irregularities or mechanical stress.

Creation

Syntax

c = conformalArray

c = conformalArray(PropertyName=Value)

Description

c = conformalArray creates a conformal antenna array using the default antenna elements and element positions. The default elements are a center-fed dipole object resonating around 700 MHz and a center-fed bowtieTriangular object resonating around 403 MHz when isolated. The antennas are spaced 0.15m apart from each other along the positive z-axis.

c = conformalArray(PropertyName=Value) sets properties using one or more name-value arguments. PropertyName is the property name and Value is the corresponding value. You can specify several name-value arguments in any order as PropertyName1=Value1,...,PropertyNameN=ValueN. Properties that you do not specify, retain default values.

For example, c = conformalArray(Element={dipole monopole},ElementPosition=[0,0,0.1; 0,0,0.2]) creates a conformal array of a dipole and a monopole antenna whose feeds are at a distance of 0.1 m and 0.2 m from the origin along the positive z-axis.

Properties

Element — Antennas, arrays, backing structures without exciter, or custom shapes

1-by-M cell array of antenna, array, custom antenna or array objects, backing structures or custom shapes

Antennas, arrays, backing structures (cavity or reflector) without exciter, or custom shapes, specified as a 1-by-M cell array of following objects:

• Antenna object from the antenna catalog.

• Array object from the array catalog, except infinite array and egg crate array.

• installedAntenna object.

• Cavity and reflector backing structures.

• 2-D and 3-D metal, dielectric, and metal-dielectric shapes from the following list with "Constant" frequency model:

  • shape.Circle

  • shape.Ellipse

  • shape.Rectangle

  • shape.Polygon

  • shape.Box

  • shape.OpenBox

  • shape.Cylinder

  • shape.OpenCylinder

  • shape.Sphere

  • shape.Custom3D

M is the number of elements in the array.

By default, a conformal array has two elements, a dipole and a bowtie antenna. You can add balanced and unbalanced antennas to the same conformal array.

A conformal array cannot have only backing structures or custom shapes as the element. Specify at least one antenna or array element in addition to the backing structure or custom shape.

Note

Conformal arrays created using unbalanced antennas with infinite ground plane are currently not supported.

Example: conformalArray(Element={monopole monopole}) creates a conformal array consisting of two monopole antenna elements.

Example: conformalArray(Element={linearArray rectangularArray}) creates a conformal array consisting of a linear array and a rectangular array.

Example: ca =conformalArray;ca.Element={cavity(Exciter=[]) ca.Element{2}}; creates a conformal array of a cavity backing structure and a bowtie antenna element.

Example: ca =conformalArray;ca.Element={shape.Rectangle dipole}; creates a conformal array of a rectangle and a dipole antenna.

Data Types: cell

ElementPosition — Position of feed or origin

[0 0 0; 0 0 0.15] (default) | M-by-3 real matrix

Position of the feed or origin for each antenna element, specified as an M-by-3 real matrix. M is the number of elements in the array. By default, there are two element positions as there are two elements in the conformal array.

For 2-D and 3-D shape objects, the geometry shifts from its initial position by a corresponding value specified in the ElementPosition vector.

Example: [0.1 0.1 0.1; -0.1 -0.1 -0.1; 0.2 0.2]

Data Types: double

Reference — Position reference for antenna element

"feed" (default) | "origin"

Position reference for the antenna element, specified as either "origin" or "feed". For more information, see Position Reference.

For 2-D and 3-D shape objects, both "feed" and "origin" references work the same way.

Example: "origin"

Data Types: string

AmplitudeTaper — Excitation amplitude of antenna elements

1 (default) | scalar | positive vector

Excitation amplitude of the antenna elements, specified as a scalar or a positive vector. To model dead elements, set the property value to 0.

Example: 3

Example: [3 0] creates a two-element conformal array with the excitation amplitudes of the two elements equal to 3 and 0 respectively.

Data Types: double

PhaseShift — Phase shift for antenna elements

0 (default) | scalar | real vector

Phase shift for antenna elements, specified as a scalar or a real vector in degrees.

Example: [-45 -45 45 45]

Data Types: double

Tilt — Tilt angle of array

0 (default) | numeric scalar | numeric vector

Tilt angle of the array in degrees, specified as a scalar or vector. For more information, see Rotate Antennas and Arrays.

Example: 90

Example: Tilt=[90 90],TiltAxis=[0 1 0;0 1 1] tilts the array at 90 degrees about the two axes, defined by the vectors.

Data Types: double

TiltAxis — Tilt axis of array

[1 0 0] (default) | three-element vector | 2-by-3 matrix | "X" | "Y" | "Z"

Tilt axis of the array, specified as one of these values:

• Three-element vectors of Cartesian coordinates in meters. In this case, each vector starts at the origin and lies along the specified points on the x-, y-, and z-axes.

• Two points in space, specified as a 2-by-3 matrix corresponding to two three-element vectors of Cartesian coordinates. In this case, the array rotates around the line joining the two points.

• "x", "y", or "z" to describe a rotation about the x-, y-, or z-axis, respectively.

For more information, see Rotate Antennas and Arrays.

Example: [0 1 0]

Example: [0 0 0;0 1 0]

Example: "Z"

Data Types: double | string

Object Functions

arrayFactor	Array factor in dB
axialRatio	Calculate and plot axial ratio of antenna or array
beamwidth	Beamwidth of antenna
charge	Charge distribution on antenna or array surface
correlation	Correlation coefficient between two antennas in array
current	Current distribution on antenna or array surface
design	Create antenna, array, or AI-based antenna resonating at specified frequency
doa	Direction of arrival of signal
efficiency	Calculate and plot radiation efficiency of antenna or array
EHfields	Electric and magnetic fields of antennas or embedded electric and magnetic fields of antenna element in arrays
feedCurrent	Calculate current at feed for antenna or array
impedance	Calculate and plot input impedance of antenna or scan impedance of array
info	Display information about antenna, array, or platform
layout	Display array or PCB stack layout
memoryEstimate	Estimate memory required to solve antenna or array mesh
mesh	Generate and view mesh for antennas, arrays, and custom shapes
meshconfig	Change meshing mode of antenna, array, custom antenna, custom array, or custom geometry
msiwrite	Write antenna or array analysis data to MSI planet file
optimize	Optimize antenna and array catalog elements using SADEA or TR-SADEA algorithm
pattern	Plot radiation pattern of antenna, array, or embedded element of array
patternAzimuth	Azimuth plane radiation pattern of antenna or array
patternElevation	Elevation plane radiation pattern of antenna or array
patternMultiply	Radiation pattern of array using pattern multiplication
peakRadiation	Calculate and mark maximum radiation points of antenna or array on radiation pattern
phaseShift	Calculate phase shift values for arrays or multi-feed PCB stack
rcs	Calculate and plot monostatic and bistatic radar cross section (RCS) of platform, antenna, or array
returnLoss	Calculate and plot return loss of antenna or scan return loss of array
show	Display antenna, array structures, shapes, or platform
sparameters	Calculate S-parameters for antenna or array
stlwrite	Write mesh information to STL file
vswr	Calculate and plot voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of antenna or array element

Examples

Default Conformal Array

Create a default conformal array.

c = conformalArray

c = 
  conformalArray with properties:

            Element: {[1×1 dipole]  [1×1 bowtieTriangular]}
    ElementPosition: [2×3 double]
          Reference: 'feed'
     AmplitudeTaper: 1
         PhaseShift: 0
               Tilt: 0
           TiltAxis: [1 0 0]

show(c)

Create and Analyze Conformal Array

This example shows how to create a conformal array consisting of bowtieRounded, bowtieTriangular, dipoleBlade, and loopCircular antennas operating at 1 GHz. The same workflow using Antenna Array Designer app is also shown in a complementary video.

Video Walkthrough

For a walkthrough of the example, play the video.

Video Transcript

Design and Analysis Workflow

Define the analysis frequency range.

f = 900e6:10e6:1.1e9;

Design and orient the rounded bowtie, triangular bowtie, blade dipole, and circular loop antennas.

% Rounded bowtie antenna 
br = design(bowtieRounded,f(11));
br.Tilt = 90;
br.TiltAxis = [0 1 0];

% Triangular bowtie antenna
bt = design(bowtieTriangular,f(11));
bt.Tilt = 90;
bt.TiltAxis = [0 1 0];

% Blade dipole antenna 
db = design(dipoleBlade,f(11));
db.Tilt = 90;
db.TiltAxis = [0 1 0];

% Circular loop antenna
lc = design(loopCircular,f(11));

Create a conformal array.

c = conformalArray(Element={br bt db lc},...
    ElementPosition=[0.2189 0.2318 0; 0 0 0.2; -0.1 0.4 0; 0.4 0.6 0],Reference="origin")

c = 
  conformalArray with properties:

            Element: {[1×1 bowtieRounded]  [1×1 bowtieTriangular]  [1×1 dipoleBlade]  [1×1 loopCircular]}
    ElementPosition: [4×3 double]
          Reference: "origin"
     AmplitudeTaper: 1
         PhaseShift: 0
               Tilt: 0
           TiltAxis: [1 0 0]

Visualize the conformal array.

show(c)

Plot the S-parameters of this array in the 900 MHz to 1.1 GHz range.

s = sparameters(c,f);
figure
rfplot(s,{[1,1];[2,2];[3,3];[4,4]});

Plot the radiation pattern of this array at 1 GHz.

pattern(c,f(11))

Circular Array of Dipoles

Define the radius and the number of elements for the array.

r = 2;
N = 12;

Create an array of 12 dipoles.

elem = repmat(dipole(Length=1.5),1,N);

Define the x,y,z values for the element positions in the array.

del_th = 360/N;
th = del_th:del_th:360;
x = r.*cosd(th);
y = r.*sind(th);
z = ones(1,N);
pos = [x;y;z];

Create a circular array using the defined dipoles and then visualize it. Display the layout of the array.

c = conformalArray(Element=elem,ElementPosition=pos');
show(c)

figure
layout(c)

Change the width of the fourth and the twelfth element of the circular array. Visualize the new arrangement.

c.Element(4).Width = 0.05;
c.Element(12).Width = 0.2;
figure
show(c)

Calculate and plot the impedance of the circular array at 100 MHz. The plot shows the impedance of the first element in the array.

figure
impedance(c,100e6)

To view the impedance of all the elements in the array change the value from 1 to 1:12 as shown in the figure.

Radiation Pattern of Concentric Array of Circular Loop Antennas

Define three circular loop antennas of radii 0.6366 m (default), 0.85 m, and 1 m, respectively.

l1 = loopCircular;
l2 = loopCircular(Radius=0.85);
l3 = loopCircular(Radius=1);

Create a concentric array that uses the origin of circular loop antennas as its position reference.

c = conformalArray(Element={l1 l2 l3},ElementPosition=[0 0 0; 0 0 0;...
     0 0 0],Reference="origin");
show(c)

Visualize the radiation pattern of the array at 80 MHz.

pattern(c,80e6)

Conformal Array Using Infinite Ground Plane Antenna

Create a dipole antenna to use in the reflector and the conformal array.

d = dipole(Length=0.13,Width=5e-3,Tilt=90,TiltAxis='Y');

Create an infinite groundplane reflector antenna using the dipole as exciter.

rf = reflector(Exciter=d,Spacing=0.15/2,GroundPlaneLength=inf);

Create a conformal array using 36 dipole antennas and one infinite groundplane reflector antenna. View the array.

x = linspace(-0.4,0.4,6);
y = linspace(-0.4,0.4,6);
[X,Y] = meshgrid(x,y);
pos = [X(:) Y(:) 0.15*ones(numel(X),1)];
for i = 1:36
    element{i} = d;
end
element{37} = rf;
lwa = conformalArray(Element=element,ElementPosition=[pos; 0 0 0.15/2]);
show(lwa)

Drive only the reflector antenna with an amplitude of 1.

V = zeros(1,37);
V(end) = 1;
lwa.AmplitudeTaper = V;

Compute the radiation pattern of the conformal array.

figure
pattern(lwa,1e9,Type='efield')

Conformal Array of Dielectric Antennas

Create two patch microstrip antennas using dielectric substrate FR4. Tilt the second patch microstrip antenna by 180 degrees.

p1 = patchMicrostrip(Substrate=dielectric('FR4'));
p2 = patchMicrostrip(Substrate=dielectric('FR4'),Tilt=180);

Create and view a conformal array using the two patch microstrip antennas placed 11 cm apart.

c = conformalArray(ElementPosition=[0 0 0; 0 0 0.1100],Element={p1 p2});
show(c)

Conformal Array Using Balanced and Unbalanced Antennas

Create a conformal array using dipole and monopole antennas and display it.

c = conformalArray(Element={dipole monopole},...
    ElementPosition=[0 0 0; 1.5 0 0]);
show(c)

Plot the radiation pattern of the array at 70 MHz.

pattern(c,70e6)

Subarrays of Linear Arrays

Create a subarray of linear arrays at different locations.

la = linearArray(ElementSpacing=1)

la = 
  linearArray with properties:

           Element: [1×1 dipole]
       NumElements: 2
    ElementSpacing: 1
    AmplitudeTaper: 1
        PhaseShift: 0
              Tilt: 0
          TiltAxis: [1 0 0]

subArr = conformalArray(Element=[la la],ElementPosition=[1 0 0; -1 1 0])

subArr = 
  conformalArray with properties:

            Element: [1×2 linearArray]
    ElementPosition: [2×3 double]
          Reference: 'feed'
     AmplitudeTaper: 1
         PhaseShift: 0
               Tilt: 0
           TiltAxis: [1 0 0]

show(subArr)

Conformal Array of Subarrays and Antennas

Create a linear array of dipoles with and element spacing of 1m.

la = linearArray(ElementSpacing=1);

Create a rectangular array of microstrip patch antennas.

ra = rectangularArray(Element=patchMicrostrip,RowSpacing=0.1,ColumnSpacing=0.1);

Create a subarray containing the above linear and rectangular arrays with changes in amplitude taper and phase shift values.

subArr = conformalArray(Element={la ra dipole},ElementPosition=[0 0 1.5; 0 0 0; 1 1 1],...
    AmplitudeTaper=[3 0.3 0.03],PhaseShift=[90 180 120]);
show(subArr)

Analyze Circular Cavity Structure in Conformal Array

This example shows how to create a circular cavity structure as an element in a conformalArray and plot its surface current distribution.

Create Circular Cavity Antenna

Create a circular cavity antenna operating at 1 GHz using the design function and the cavityCircular element from the antenna catalog. Display the antenna.

f = 1e9;
lambda = 3e8/f;
ant = design(cavityCircular,f);
figure
show(ant)

Derive Backing Structure

Derive the circular cavity backing structure from the cavity antenna by specifying the 'Exciter' property as an empty array. Display the backing structure.

ant.Exciter = [];
figure
show(ant)

Create Conformal Array

Create and display a conformal array with circular cavity as one of its elements.

ca = conformalArray;
ca.Reference = "origin";
ca.ElementPosition = [0 0 0; 0 0 0.25; 0 0 0.5];
ca.Element = {ca.Element{1} ant ca.Element{2}};
figure
show(ca)

Plot Surface Current Distribution

Calculate the current at the feed location and plot the surface current distribution of the conformal array at 1 GHz.

If = feedCurrent(ca,f)

If = 1×2 complex

   0.0023 - 0.0005i   0.0029 + 0.0007i

figure
current(ca,f,Scale="log10")

Create Conformal Array of Antennas and Geometric Structure

This example shows how to create a conformal array of antennas and a geometric structure. This example uses two dipole antennas and a Plexiglas tunnel for the demonstration. The dipole antennas are placed at the openings of the tunnel.

Define the dimensions in meters.

domeRadius = 1.8/2;
outlineWidth = 1.5;
cavityLength = 0.3;
cavityWidth = 0.3;
thickness = 0.01;
tunnelLength = 10;

Create two tunnel faces with slightly different dimensions. Then subtract smaller face from the larger to get an outline of the tunnel with specified thickness. Create shapes for tunnel dome, wall, and cavity. Add them together to get the overall shape.

Create smaller tunnel face.

tunnelDome = shape.Circle(Radius=domeRadius);
tunnelWall = shape.Rectangle(Length=domeRadius*2,Width=outlineWidth);
[~] = translate(tunnelWall,[0 -tunnelWall.Width/2 0]);
tunnelCavity = shape.Rectangle(Length=cavityLength,Width=cavityWidth);
[~] = translate(tunnelCavity,[-tunnelWall.Length/2+tunnelCavity.Length/2 ...
    -tunnelWall.Width-tunnelCavity.Width/2 0 ]);
tunnelSmall = tunnelDome + tunnelWall + tunnelCavity;
figure
show(tunnelSmall)
title("Smaller Tunnel Face")

Create larger tunnel face.

tunnelDome = shape.Circle(Radius=domeRadius+thickness);
tunnelWall = shape.Rectangle(Length=domeRadius*2+thickness*2,Width=outlineWidth+thickness);
[~] = translate(tunnelWall,[0 -tunnelWall.Width/2 0]);
tunnelCavity = shape.Rectangle(Length=cavityLength+thickness*2,Width=cavityWidth);
[~] = translate(tunnelCavity,[-tunnelWall.Length/2+tunnelCavity.Length/2 ...
    -tunnelWall.Width-tunnelCavity.Width/2 0 ]);
tunnelLarge = tunnelDome + tunnelWall + tunnelCavity;
figure
show(tunnelLarge)
title("Larger Tunnel Face")

Subtract smaller face from larger to get an outline of the tunnel with 0.01 m thickness.

tunnelOutline = tunnelLarge - tunnelSmall;
show(tunnelOutline)
title("Outline of Tunnel with 0.01 m Thickness")

Linearly extrude the outline to generate a 10 m. long tunnel. Specify Plexiglas as the dielectric material of the tunnel using the Dielectric property. You can add any dielectric material from the dielectric catalog. To view a list of dielectric materials, run openDielectricCatalog on the command line.

tunnelOutline = removeSlivers(tunnelOutline,1e-12);
tunnel = extrudeLinear(tunnelOutline,tunnelLength,Caps=true)

tunnel = 
  Custom3D with properties:

              Name: 'custom3D'
          Vertices: [80×3 double]
             Metal: 'PEC'
        Dielectric: 'Air'
    FrequencyModel: 'Constant'
             Color: 'y'
      Transparency: 1
         EdgeColor: 'k'

tunnel.Dielectric="Plexiglas";

Orient the tunnel.

[~] = rotateY(tunnel,90);
rotateX(tunnel,90);

Create a conformal array with two dipoles and the tunnel as its elements.

c = conformalArray;
c.ElementPosition = [-1 0 0;-1 0 0;8 0 0];
c.Reference = "origin";
c.Element = {dipole(Length=1),tunnel,dipole(Length=1)};
figure
show(c)
title("Conformal Array — Dipoles placed in tunnel")

Mesh the conformal array. You can control the mesh of individual elements by specifying a vector of edge lengths.

mesh(c,MaxEdgeLength=[0.05 0.2 0.05]);

More About

Position Reference

Reference property of conformalArray object defines the position reference of an antenna element in 3–D space. You can position the antenna by specifying the Reference property as "feed" or "origin".

Choose the position reference as "feed" to move the antenna element with respect to the feed point so that the new feed location is at the specified coordinates. Following diagram shows a rectangular loop antenna and reflector-backed antenna before and after relocation with respect to the feed point:

Choose the position reference as "origin" to move the antenna element so that new antenna origin is at the specified coordinates. Following diagram shows a rectangular loop antenna and a reflector-backed antenna before and after the relocation with respect to origin:

References

[1] Balanis, Constantine A. Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design. 3rd Ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2005.

Version History

Introduced in R2016a

R2025a: Use 2-D and 3-D shapes as element

You can now use 2-D and 3-D shapes in the conformal array configuration. To use a shape in the conformal array, set the Element property using any of these shape objects along with at least one antenna or array object:

• 2-D shapes: shape.Circle, shape.Ellipse, shape.Polygon, and shape.Rectangle

• 3-D shapes: shape.Box, shape.OpenBox, shape.Cylinder, shape.OpenCylinder, shape.Sphere, and shape.Custom3D

For example,

c = conformalArray(Element={shape.Rectangle,dipole})

creates a conformal array of a rectangle and a dipole antenna.