Low Sideband Radiation Beam Scanning at Carrier Frequency for Time-Modulated Array by Non-Uniform Period Modulation

A novel beam scanning method utilizing the carrier frequency component for time-modulated array (TMA) is proposed and a significant algorithm based on the non-uniform period modulation is implemented to suppress the maximum sideband radiation (SR) level. The signal in each channel is modulated by a pair of high-speed radio-frequency (RF) switches and totally three or four delay lines with different phases. In each modulation period, three selected delay lines are connected successively with proper pulse durations to keep the switches in ON states constantly and ensure the maximum efficiency in the feeding network. Additionally, in order to suppress the relatively higher SR generated by both switches and delay lines, each channel of the TMA system has a different modulation period, which will separate the harmonic components of different elements on the frequency axis. A desired relatively low maximum SR level without complicated optimization is obtained compared with uniform period modulation and optimization algorithms. Several numeric simulations are brought out to examine the performance of the proposed methods, and the results for comparison to existing methods are also provided. A group of experiments have been done to verify its effectiveness.