MATLAB: Is the transmitter power for a ‘txsite’ object expressed as the single antenna element or an overall array transmitting power

Phased Array System Toolbox

In the phased array toolbox where the 'txsite' object is defined, does the transmitter power refer to as the single antenna element or defined as an overall array transmitting power?

Best Answer

The transmitter power is defined in the 'TransmitterPower' property of the TXSITE object, and this represents the total power in Watts that feeds the antenna or antenna array.

The transmitter power is used to calculate received power at a receiver by applying the Friis transmission equation.

When applying this equation, the gains associated with the transmitter and receiver antennas are calculated using the 'pattern' function, which is defined on both antenna elements and arrays.

For more information on 'pattern', please refer to the following documentation:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2020b/phased/ref/phased.ula.pattern.html

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Do bistatic radar simulations require antenna elements that support polarization

As of R2020b, polarization encapsulates reflected signals and is necessary for the bistatic radar simulation workflow.

However, in some instances, the same simulation results can be achieved without polarization (using isotropic antenna elements). For example, for a simulation involving constant radar cross sections, a non-polarized radar target can be used as an alternative.

MATLAB: Subarray Simulation have different output by using similar method

Conceptually the two approach is equivalent. The discrepancy you see is related to how you generate the custom antenna in your second approach. When you use the result from pattern, you essentially get only the magnitude data. However, even though the elements are isotropic, the response of an array has phase information in there. Therefore, instead of using

[embpattern, az, el] = pattern(subarray,fc);
ant_sub = phased.CustomAntennaElement('FrequencyVector',[10e9,50e9],...
    'AzimuthAngles',az,...
    'ElevationAngles',el,...
    'MagnitudePattern',embpattern,...
    'PhasePattern',zeros(size(embpattern)));

I would use the following code to generate the custom antenna element

az = -180:180;
el = -90:90;
embpattern = complex(zeros(numel(el),numel(az)));
subarrayresp = phased.ArrayResponse('SensorArray',subarray);
for m = 1:numel(el)
    embpattern(m,:) = subarrayresp(fc,[az;el(m)*ones(size(az))]);
end
ant_sub = phased.CustomAntennaElement('FrequencyVector',[10e9,50e9],...
    'AzimuthAngles',az,...
    'ElevationAngles',el,...
    'MagnitudePattern',mag2db(abs(embpattern)),...
    'PhasePattern',angle(embpattern));

If you use this ant_sub in your program, you will see that the two approach give the same power level.

HTH

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Do bistatic radar simulations require antenna elements that support polarization

MATLAB: Subarray Simulation have different output by using similar method

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