Wide null steering of realistic antenna array

• A wide-null pattern synthesizing and steering technique for realistic antenna array is proposed. • The optimal excitation distribution to form an array pattern with described wide null is obtained by minimizing the ratio of the power radiated in the desired nulling angular space to the total input power of the antenna array. • A 1 × 8 LP patch antenna array is designed and fabricated to validate the proposed wide-null pattern synthesizing and steering technique. • The realized wide-null patterns are in good agreement with the predesigned ones. In this paper, a wide-null pattern synthesizing and steering technique for realistic antenna array is proposed by minimizing the power radiation in the nulling space. The optimal excitation distribution (OED) to form an array pattern with described wide null is obtained by minimizing the ratio of the power radiated in the desired nulling angular space to the total input power of the antenna array. The ratio functioning as the performance index is built up with the extracted electric fields radiated by each embedded antenna element on the discrete spots of a selected far-field arc segment. By minimizing the performance index, a null pattern with described width and direction can be obtained. By selecting a different far-field arc segment covering a desired nulling angular space and rebuilding up the performance index, the pattern null with desired width and direction can be steered. For simplicity, the proposed wide null synthesizing and steering technique is validated with a realistic linear patch antenna array. Simulated and measured results indicate that the realized null patterns are in good agreement with the predetermined ones.