As phased arrays begin to include more mixed-signal and digital content, many engineers can benefit from a more intuitive explanation of phased-array antenna patterns. It turns out that many analogies exist between the behavior of phased-array antennas and the discrete time-sampled systems that the mixed-signal and digital engineers work with every day.
In Part 4 of this series on phased-array antenna patterns, we covered grating lobes. Part 5 turns its attention to beam squint: changes in beam angle as a function of frequency...
This sixth installment closes out the series on phased-array antenna patterns with a discussion of antenna sidelobes and the effect of tapering across an array.