Enhancing Aperture Efficiency of Single Parabolic Cylindrical Compact Range Based on a Linear Array Excitation Method

This article presents a method for optimizing the excitation of a linear array feed in a single parabolic cylindrical compact range (SPCCR), which can improve aperture efficiency while maintaining high-quality quiet zone performance. The SPCCR is first analyzed using the plane-wave angular spectrum (PWAS), where the reflector acts as an angular-domain filter to eliminate higher spatial frequency plane waves from the feed source. Subsequently, a truncated approximation function of the PWAS (TAPWAS) is proposed to represent the PWAS synthesis of the feed source. The excitation obtained through angular spectrum-domain optimization can achieve an aperture efficiency as high as 83% for the serrated-edge reflector, whereby the solid body of the reflector accounted for 73.5% of its width. Finally, both numerical full-wave simulations and experimental validations are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.