Determining the Minimum Number of Plane Wave Generator Radiating Elements Based on SVD of the Transfer Matrix

This letter presents a method for calculating the required minimum number of radiating elements in a plane wave generator (PWG), formed by a linear array with electrically limited size. We propose a novel information transmission rate analysis method, which is based on the independent information content represented by the singular value decomposition of the transfer matrix. Utilizing this proposed approach, a more precise and explicit formula for calculating the required minimum number of radiating elements is derived compared to conventional method based on the number of degrees of freedom analysis of the radiated field. Additionally, the corresponding information transmission rate threshold is given for practical PWG implementations. Finally, a PWG formed by a linear array is simulated, fabricated and measured as an example to validate our proposed method. Both simulation and measurement results demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of our proposed method.