Automated Design of Parabolic Reflector Antennas using MATLAB and Antenna Toolbox

Nowadays numerical methods of electrodynamics are gaining more and more popularity. It can be used to calculate the characteristics of antennas of various shapes. This paper presents software for the automated design of parabolic reflector antennas. The software enables quick antenna design and evaluation of its electrical characteristics. The method of moments is used to calculate feed radiation pattern with MATLAB Antenna Toolbox. The antenna characteristics are calculated due to aperture distribution method. The developed program allows user to choose feed as a horn (conical or pyramidal), a dipole or turnstile antenna with reflector or a helical antenna. Reflector can have rectangular or elliptical shape with user-defined dimensions. The program can be used to design front fed, offset fed or dual reflector (Cassegrain or Gregorian) antennas. The designed program calculates the radiation patterns of feed and overall antenna, and the field distribution in the antenna aperture. The calculation results have been verified by comparison with the characteristics of existing antennas and are quite accurate.