A GTD study of pyramidal horns for offset reflector antenna applications

TLDR: In this paper, an efficient computational method is demonstrated for determining the far-field patterns of reflectors illuminated by pyramidal horns, using a uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) formulation to determine the near and far-fields of the horn.

Abstract: An efficient computational method is demonstrated for determining the far-field patterns of reflectors illuminated by pyramidal horns. A uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) formulation is used to determine the near- and far-fields of the horn. The far-field patterns of the offset reflector are constructed using the physical optics (PO) formulation in conjunction with the Jacobi-Bessel expansion method. Many representative results are shown for the far-field patterns of the reflector. In particular, the concept of the optimum phase center for the best location of a horn illuminating a reflector is carefully studied and some useful observations are made.