Load-Pull Effect on Radiation Characteristics of Active Antennas

The design of array antennas including nonlinear devices requires specific simulation tools. These tools should combine the electromagnetic modeling of passive components with an appropriate description of nonlinearities potentially induced by the active circuitry. An iterative approach is proposed here for the simulation of transmitting arrays, including power amplifiers, taking into account distortion and varying antenna loads induced by coupling effects. Our approach predicts, for the first time at our knowledge, a significant effect of nonlinearity on the sidelobe levels of the active array antennas.