An Integrated Method for Robust Array Antenna Bounded Peak Sidelobe Level Synthesis Considering Mutual Coupling

This work proposes a linear array synthesis optimization method that maximizes the robustness against channel calibration and/or mutual coupling (MC) errors. The circular interval analysis (CIA) method is used to describe the interval power patterns of array antennas with errors (channel calibration and MC), and then the radiation power pattern is optimized using the analysis tools of convex programming (CP) methods, to satisfy the user-defined mask constraints for the main lobe width and the sidelobe level, while obtaining the optimal excitation weights for the antenna elements. A set of representative examples is reported to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method. Finally, the proposed method is applied to a preliminary robust design of a spherical conformal array antenna with calibration errors, laying the foundation for future research on conformal array antenna synthesis.