Time Domain Analysis of the Near-Field Radiation of Shaped Electrically Large Apertures

The near-field radiation of several electrically large apertures has been computed based on the aperture field convolution method, including a square aperture, a circular aperture, and a serrated edge aperture. The frequency range is 8.0-12.0 GHz. The aperture diameters are limited to 5.00 m and the corresponding electrical size is 133-200 wavelengths. The time domain spectrum has been obtained by chirp z-transform with a Hamming window and the mechanism for the generation of the aperture near-field radiation in time domain is analyzed. The calculation results demonstrate that the near-field radiation of the aperture can be approximately seen as the synthesis of a plane wave from the aperture, cylindrical waves from the edges, and spherical waves from the corners. By this method, the direction, position, and magnitude of incoming waves in the near-field region can be estimated, and the aperture design can be modified to meet the requirements of the near-field radiation. The near field of the three apertures mentioned above has been compared, and it is shown that the serrated edge aperture has more uniform direct wave and lower diffraction waves, making it a candidate for compact range (CR) aperture design.