Influence of curvature on transmission properties of finite curved slot arrays

Transmission properties of finite curved slot arrays were investigated based on an extension of mutual admittance approach. One-dimensional curvature effects were analyzed, with the influence of column number and flare angle on magnetic current distribution, scattering patterns and frequency response curves. Results show that the curvature effect depends on the flare angle. When the flare angle is large (above 120°), strong curvature effect leads to violent fluctuation of magnetic current distribution, wide beamwidth and high side lobes, and considerable changes also occur in frequency-response characteristics, including resonant frequency, transmission bandwidth and transmission coefficient. When the flare angle is small enough, generally below 60°, only the magnetic current distributions of marginal elements would get influenced, consequently the scattering patterns and transmission characteristics are similar to those of finite planar arrays. The curvature effect may became very weak and be ignored on this condition.