Fast Calculation of Far-Field Radiation Pattern for Large-Scale Conformal Array Based on Active Element Pattern Reconstruction

This paper presents a fast computation method for the far-field radiation pattern of large-scale conformal arrays based on active element pattern (AEP) reconstruction. The inherent inconsistency of individual AEPs in conformal arrays prevents direct application of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), resulting in time-consuming computations. To accelerate the process, Zernike polynomials are used to reconstruct each AEP into a set of basis radiation patterns with corresponding coefficients. Thus, the conformal array pattern can be expressed as a sum of several basis pattern sets multiplied by the array factor. Additionally, the three-dimensional nonuniform fast Fourier transform is employed to efficiently compute the array factor. Validation is performed on a large-scale cylindrical array and an irregularly curved conformal array, with results compared against those from direct calculation. Computational results demonstrate the advantages and effectiveness of the proposed method.