Radial line slot antenna arrays

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out for generating a set of slot activation configurations for a holographic radial line slot antenna array, the antenna array comprising multiple slots defining a preconfigured slot pattern, each slot activation configuration defining a beam pattern for a signal to be emitted by the antenna array, the process comprising:

• generating an impedance matrix for the antenna array using a set of scattering parameters for the antenna array;
• controlling a resonant frequency of at least one of the multiple slots by regulating a value of capacitance of a variable capacitance device provided across the slot using one of multiple discrete values for capacitive reactance, whereby to generate an updated impedance matrix for the antenna array;
• calculating respective measures of current around the multiple slots using the updated impedance matrix;
• calculating respective measures of voltage across the multiple slots using the measures of current and the impedance matrix;
• converting the updated impedance matrix to an updated set of scattering parameters;
• and
• using the updated set of scattering parameters and the measures of voltage, calculating a radiation pattern for the antenna array.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out for generating a set of slot activation configurations for a holographic radial line slot antenna array, the antenna array comprising multiple slots defining a preconfigured slot pattern, each slot activation configuration defining a beam pattern for a signal to be emitted by the antenna array, the process comprising:

• using a measure for mutual coupling between the multiple slots, generating a set of impedance parameters for the antenna array, the measure for the mutual coupling generated in the presence of a signal applied to the antenna array and comprising a set of scattering parameters defining a scattering matrix for the antenna array;
• controlling a resonance of at least one of the multiple slots by regulating a value of capacitance of a variable capacitance device provided across the slot using one of multiple discrete values for capacitive reactance;
• measuring a value for antenna gain of a beam pattern associated with the value of capacitance;
• selecting a final value of capacitance resulting in the highest measure of gain for the beam pattern;
• and
• selecting a slot activation configuration for the beam pattern on the basis of the selected final value of capacitance.