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beamwidth

Compute and display beamwidth of a subarray

Since R2020b

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Syntax

beamwidth(subarray,freq)
beamwidth(subarray,freq,Name,Value)
[bw,angles] = beamwidth(___)

Description

beamwidth(subarray,freq) plots the 2-D power pattern (in dB) of the subarray for all azimuth angles at a fixed elevation angle of zero degrees. The plot displays the half-power beamwidth (in degrees) at the frequency specified in freq (in Hz) and the angles (in degrees) in azimuth at which the magnitude of the power pattern decreases by 3 dB from the peak of the main beam.

example

beamwidth(subarray,freq,Name,Value) computes and plots the beamwidth with the specified parameter Name set to the specified Value. You can specify additional name-value pair arguments in any order as (Name1,Value1,...,NameN,ValueN).

Example: beamwidth(subarray,5e8,'Cut','Elevation')

[bw,angles] = beamwidth(___) returns the angular beamwidth bw (in degrees). The function also returns the corresponding angle values (in degrees) of the beamwidth.

example

Examples

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Open Live Script

Plot the beamwidth of a rectangular lattice array composed of two uniform rectangular arrays. Consider the antenna elements of the array to be cosine antenna elements.

First, construct a phased.CosineAntennaElement object.

myAnt = phased.CosineAntennaElement
myAnt = 
  phased.CosineAntennaElement with properties:

    FrequencyRange: [0 1.0000e+20]
       CosinePower: [1.5000 1.5000]

Next, construct a 5-by-5 uniform rectangular array by creating a phased.URA object.

myArray = phased.URA([5 5],[0.5 0.5],'Element',myAnt,...
    'ElementSpacing',[0.15 0.15])
myArray = 
  phased.URA with properties:

           Element: [1x1 phased.CosineAntennaElement]
              Size: [5 5]
    ElementSpacing: [0.1500 0.1500]
           Lattice: 'Rectangular'
       ArrayNormal: 'x'
             Taper: 1

Use two of these 5-by-5 uniform rectangular arrays to construct a 5-by-10 rectangular lattice. Construct the lattice using the phased.ReplicatedSubarray object.

myRSA = phased.ReplicatedSubarray('Subarray',myArray,...
'Layout','Rectangular','GridSize',[1 2],...
'GridSpacing','Auto','SubarraySteering','Phase')
myRSA = 
  phased.ReplicatedSubarray with properties:

                 Subarray: [1x1 phased.URA]
                   Layout: 'Rectangular'
                 GridSize: [1 2]
              GridSpacing: 'Auto'
         SubarraySteering: 'Phase'
    PhaseShifterFrequency: 300000000
      NumPhaseShifterBits: 0

Now visualize the 10dB beamwidth of the obtained lattice across the azimuth plane (0 degrees elevation). The subarray is phase steered toward 24 degrees azimuth. Assume the operating frequency of the array to be 1 GHz.

stv = phased.SteeringVector('SensorArray',myRSA);
beamwidth(myRSA,1e9,'dBDown',10,'SteerAngle',24,'Weights',stv(1e9,24))

Figure contains an axes object and an object of type uicontrol. The hidden axes object contains 4 objects of type patch, line, text. This object represents 1 GHz .

ans = 
16.4600
Open Live Script

Calculate the 3 dB beamwidth of a 10-element uniform linear array (ULA) composed of two 5-element ULAs across the azimuth plane and at 0 degrees elevation. By default, the antenna elements are isotropic. Assume the operating frequency of the array to be 500MHz.

myArray = phased.ULA('NumElements',5)
myArray = 
  phased.ULA with properties:

           Element: [1x1 phased.IsotropicAntennaElement]
       NumElements: 5
    ElementSpacing: 0.5000
         ArrayAxis: 'y'
             Taper: 1


myRSA = phased.ReplicatedSubarray('Subarray',myArray,...
'GridSize',[1 2])
myRSA = 
  phased.ReplicatedSubarray with properties:

            Subarray: [1x1 phased.ULA]
              Layout: 'Rectangular'
            GridSize: [1 2]
         GridSpacing: 'Auto'
    SubarraySteering: 'None'


[BW,Ang] = beamwidth(myRSA,5e8)
BW = 
6.1200

Ang = 1×2

   -3.0600    3.0600

Input Arguments

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Subarray of sensor elements, specified as one of the following System objects:

Frequency used to calculate the beamwidth, specified as a scalar in Hz.

Example: 5e8

Data Types: double

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: beamwidth(subarray,5e8,'Cut','Azimuth','CutAngle',45) plots the beamwidth of the subarray that is operating at a frequency of 0.5 GHz, with the slice direction set to 'Azimuth', and the cut angle set to 45 degrees.

The slice direction in azimuth-elevation space along which the beamwidth is computed, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Cut' and 'Azimuth' for the azimuth plane, and 'Cut' and 'Elevation' for the elevation plane.

Corresponding angle (in degrees) for the plane to get the required 2-D cut, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'CutAngle' and a scalar. If 'Cut' is specified as 'Azimuth', then 'CutAngle' (Elevation) should lie between [−90, 90] degrees. If 'Cut' is specified as 'Elevation', then 'CutAngle' (Azimuth) should lie between [−180, 180] degrees.

Data Types: double

Power value (in dB) from the peak of the main lobe, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'dBDown' and a positive scalar. The default value is 3 dB, which translates to half-power beamwidth. To calculate the first-null beamwidth, specify the 'dBDown' value as Inf.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

Propagation speed, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'PropagationSpeed' and a positive scalar (in m/s).

Data Types: double

Weights applied to the array of sensor elements, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Weights' and a length-N column vector, where N is the number of elements in the array.

Data Types: double

Subarray steering angle (in degrees), specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'SteerAngle' and a scalar or a length-2 column vector. If the steering angle is a scalar, the value represents the azimuth angle and the elevation angle is assumed to be 0. If the steering angle is a vector, the angle is specified in the form of [AzimuthAngle; ElevationAngle].

Dependencies

This parameter is applicable when you set the SubarraySteering property of subarray object to either 'Phase' or 'Time'.

Data Types: double

Weights applied to each element in the subarray, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'ElementWeights' and a matrix or a cell array.

For a ReplicatedSubarray object, ElementWeights must be a NSE-by-N matrix, where NSE is the number of elements in each individual subarray and N is the number of subarrays. Each column in ElementWeights specifies the weights for the elements in the corresponding subarray.

For a PartitionedArray object, if the individual subarrays have the same number of elements, ElementWeights must be an NSE-by-N matrix, where NSE is the number of elements in each individual subarray and N is the number of subarrays.

Each column in the WS property of the subarray object specifies the weights for the elements in the corresponding subarray. If subarrays in the PartitionedArray object have different number of elements, ElementWeights can be one of the following:

  • NSE-by-N matrix –– NSE indicates the number of elements in the largest subarray and N is the number of subarrays.

  • 1-by-N cell array –– N is the number of subarrays and each cell contains a column vector whose length is the same as the number of elements of the corresponding subarray.

If WS is a matrix, the first K entries in each column specify the weights for the elements in the corresponding subarray. K is the number of elements in the corresponding subarray. If WS is a cell array, each cell in the array is a column vector specifying the weights for the elements in the corresponding subarray.

Dependencies

This parameter is applicable when you set the SubarraySteering property of subarray object to 'Custom'.

Data Types: double

Output Arguments

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Angular beamwidth of the subarray, returned as a scalar in degrees.

Data Types: double

Angle values of the beamwidth, returned as a 1-by-2 vector. The two elements in the vector [amin, amax] define the beamwidth bw as amax−amin.

Version History

Introduced in R2020b

See Also

Objects