Mechanical and electrical tolerances for two-dimensional scanning antenna arrays

An analysis is presented of the effect on radiation pattern of random errors in the construction of a two-dimensional scanning array. Translational and rotational errors in the positions of all elements are assumed together with errors in the electrical excitations themselves. Translational errors are found to cause the dominant effect. A formula connecting side lobe level and errors is derived and representative curves are shown. For a given tolerance, pattern deterioration is found to decrease as the array is enlarged. For the same tolerance, pattern deterioration is less for a planar array of size
L^{2}
- than it is for a linear array of length
L
. Side lobe increase due to random errors does not depend on scan angle.