Exporting Characteristics from MATLAB Sensor Array Analyzer

I'm currently working on a project using MATLAB's Sensor Array Analyzer, and I would like to export the Characteristics section (such as HPBW, FNBW, SLL, directivity, etc.) to a MATLAB script.

However, I haven’t been able to figure out how to do this — or if there's any way to programmatically access those values.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

[Shantanu Dixit]

Hi Yen,

You can export the Characteristics section (including values like Half Power BeamWidth (HPBW), First Null BeamWidth (FNBW), Sidelobe Level (SLL), Directivity, and others) to a MATLAB script using the built-in generate report feature in the Sensor Array Analyzer Application.

In the Toolstrip, navigate to:

EditAnalyzer > Export > Generate Report
% Select Generate Report

This will create a MATLAB '.m' file that contains a structured report of the current analysis session, including all the values found in the Characteristics section.

Hope this helps.

[Yen-Yun]

Hi Shantanu,

Thank you for your help!

However, my goal is to generate array characteristics entirely from a MATLAB script, without relying on the Sensor Array Analyzer app, so I’m looking for the code or functions needed to compute these parameters programmatically.

Answer 2

[Umeshraja]

Hi @Yen-Yun,

I understand you're interested in computing antenna parameters such as HPBW, FNBW, SLL, directivity, and more using MATLAB. While there isn't a single function that calculates all these parameters, you can use the findLobes function to determine several key characteristics, including:

• HPBW (half-power beamwidth)
• FNBW (first-null beamwidth)
• F/B (front-to-back ratio)
• SLL (side lobe level)
• Main (main lobe peak value and corresponding angle)
• Back (back lobe peak value and corresponding angle)

Below is the example that creates a 15-element ULA of isotropic antenna with elements spaced one-half wavelength apart. Plot the directivity of the array at 20 GHz. Then, find the mainlobe, sidelobe, and backlobe directions of the array pattern.

fc = 20.0e9;
c = physconst('Lightspeed');
lam = c/fc;
angs = [-180:1:180];
antenna = phased.IsotropicAntennaElement('FrequencyRange',[1.0e9,100.0e9]);
array = phased.ULA('Element',antenna,'NumElements',15,'ElementSpacing',lam/2);
a = pattern(array,fc,angs,0);
P = polarpattern(angs,a);

L = findLobes(P)

L = struct with fields:
     mainLobe: [1×1 struct]
     backLobe: [1×1 struct]
    sideLobes: [1×1 struct]
           FB: 0
          SLL: 0
         HPBW: 8.0000
         FNBW: 16.0000
        FBIdx: [181 1]
       SLLIdx: [181 361]
      HPBWIdx: [357 5]
      HPBWAng: [176 -176]
      FNBWIdx: [173 189]

If you're also interested in learning how to interact with polar plots and view associated metrics, you can refer to the following documentation

https://www.mathworks.com/help/antenna/gs/interact-with-polar-plot.html

For more information on the findLobes function:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/phased/ref/polarpattern.findlobes.html

Hope it helps!