Compensation of mutual coupling in small antenna arrays

Far-field pattern synthesis of small antenna arrays is a nontrivial problem, mainly due to mutual coupling, often precluding the use of conventional tapering algorithms. A technique to compensate for mutual coupling in small linear antenna arrays is described. The method consist of calculations of a coupling matrix, which is then used to compensate for the effects of mutual coupling. Two different methods of the calculation of coupling coefficients between the array elements are presented. In order to validate the methods, measured data for a small linear antenna array is presented and discussed.