A Minkowski-based Interval Analysis tool for pattern distortions in reflector antennas with localized surface deformations

An innovative Interval Analysis (IA) based tolerance tool for reflectors antennas is presented. The sensitivity analysis of the radiation pattern with respect to localized surface deformations is addressed. The analysis tool makes use of a new IA method which provides an accurate representation of the interval variables in the complex plane, and exploits the Minkowski sum for performing the addition operation. The novel method permits to compute tighter bounds with respect to previous IA-based approaches still guaranteeing the IA inclusion property. An illustrative example is reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, also in comparison with respect to the state-of-the-art techniques