Is it possible to put an antenna element into the center of a circular array with the Phased Array System Toolbox?

Is it possible to put an antenna element into the center of a circular array with the Phased Array System Toolbox?

I would like to create an array pattern where several elements are positioned on a circle (such as the "phased.UCA" object), however I would also like to have an additional element in the center of the circle. Is this possible?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

A circular array with an additional element in the center could be implemented using a conformal array object (phased.ConformalArray).

Please refer to the documentation page for the conformal array object to familiarize yourself with the syntax:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/phased/ref/phased.conformalarray-system-object.html

The documentation page "Phased Array Gallery" should also be helpful in terms of which array objects are more suitable for a certain geometrical pattern:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/phased/ug/phased-array-gallery.html

As an example, the following code snippet uses the "phased.ConformalArray" object to construct a circular array with another element in the center:

clearvars

N = 16; % Number of elements on the circle

R = 2; % Radius of the circle (m)

azang = (0:N-1)*360/N-180; % azimuth angles

pos = [zeros(1,N);cosd(azang);sind(azang)]; % circle positions

elNormal = zeros(2,N); % element normal directions

concentricCircularArray = phased.ConformalArray(... % notice the addition

'ElementPosition',[zeros(3,1) R*pos],... % of the central element

'ElementNormal',[zeros(2,1) elNormal]); % here

viewArray(concentricCircularArray,'Title','Concentric Circular Array');