Array Studio — Phased Array Visualizer

⌖ArrayStudiophased array visualizer

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Array geometry

Lattice

Nx × Ny

Rings 7

Rings 8

Radial step (λ) 0.5

Elements 256

Aperture radius (λ) 5.0

Min spacing (λ) 0.5

dx, dy (λ)

Cylinder radius (λ) 8.0

columns follow the arc of a vertical cylinder — dx is spacing along the surface; edge elements tilt away and are shadowed at scan (element pattern about each normal)

dy = dx·√3⁄2 (equilateral)

Boundary

Seed

Excitation / taper

Amplitude taper

Exponent q 2

Edge taper (dB) 20

Design SLL (dB) 30

n̄ (near-in lobes) 5

Apply taper

Beam steering

θ₀ — off broadside 0°

φ₀ — azimuth 0°

Animate conical scan

tip: click anywhere on the u-v map to steer the beam there

Frequency / bandwidth

Operating freq f ⁄ f₀ 1.00

True time delay (no beam squint)

Animate band sweep (squint)

phase shifters are set at f₀ — sweep f to watch the beam squint; TTD holds it still

Architecture & nulls

Taper & adaptive granularity

amplitude taper and nulling weights are applied per subarray — coarse tiles turn a smooth taper into a stairstep and raise quantization lobes

Null width

Adaptive nulls 0

shift-click the u-v map to drop a null on an interferer (max 8) — each entry shows the measured depth below the main beam

Radar system (link budget)

Carrier f₀ (GHz) / Peak power (kW)

Target RCS (m²)

Bandwidth (MHz) / Noise figure (dB)

System losses (dB) / P_d (0.1–0.999)

False-alarm probability 10⁻ˣ, x =

antenna gain is the realized broadside gain of YOUR live weights (taper, failures, spoiling included); required SNR comes from P_d / P_fa via Albersheim. The range fan shows the scan envelope plus the current beam's pattern-shaped coverage petal — sidelobes, nulls and spoiling reshape it live

Waveform

Mode

PRF (kHz) / Pulse width (µs)

Sweep time (ms)

bandwidth B is shared with the link budget. A pulsed look earns pulse-compression gain B·τ; an FMCW sweep earns beat-FFT gain B·T at 100 % duty but watts-class power — the PRF trade is in the radar panel's “PRF trade” tab

Beam spoiling

Quadratic edge phase 0.00π

Spoil Tx only (digital Rx multibeam)

phase-only defocus floods a wider sector: beam broadens, gain drops, the search budget needs fewer beams with longer dwells — watch the 3D pattern and the search range fight it out. Tx-only keeps the full coherent gain on receive

Search volume

Sector az × el (deg)

Frame time (s)

beams to fill the sector come from the broadside beam solid angle (≈41253/D deg²); the dwell each beam gets sets coherent-integration gain (B·τ) and the search-mode range — first-order, no scan-loss repointing

Multipath (low angle)

Radar / target height (m)

Surface reflection ρ 0.90

Vertical axis

Reflected-path spreading loss (image ×Rd/Rr)

Max ground range (km, 0=auto) · sweep points

flat-earth two-ray model: the ground image interferes with the direct ray (≈180° reflection at low grazing). The multipath tab plots the apparent monopulse height — or, via the axis toggle, the angle-of-arrival error in degrees — wandering off truth, above the coverage lobes vs range; gaps in the track are the multipath nulls. Your live taper / failed elements shape both. ρ ≈ 0.9 calm sea, 0.6 wet land, 0.3 rough terrain. The spreading-loss box weakens the image by the extra path it travels (Rd/Rr) — physically real but a sub-percent nudge here, since at low grazing the two paths are nearly equal length

Jamming (ECM)

New jammer: ERP (W) / range (km)

Jammers 0

alt-click the u-v map to place a barrage jammer (max 4) — it raises the noise floor through the live receive pattern and collapses the detection range. Shift-click the same spot to null it and watch the range come back

Hardware realism

Phase-shifter quantization

Amplitude error σ (dB) 0.0

Phase error σ (deg) 0

Failed elements (%) 0

Error seed

runs 64 random hardware draws and shows SLL / gain / pointing statistics in the cuts panel

Scan sweep

Max scan angle

steps the commanded steer angle (at the current azimuth) and plots directivity, peak SLL and beamwidth in the Scan sweep panel

Element & display

Element pattern

Element model

point patch = the element factor above (cos^q θ) alone, a small radiator. Filled cell treats each cell as a contiguous uniformly-illuminated aperture the size of the element spacing, so the element factor becomes sinc×cos^q: the sinc nulls land on the grating lobes — suppressed at broadside, re-emerging under scan. Choose Isotropic above for a pure sinc. Planar arrays only (conformal keeps cos^q).

Compute quality

Dynamic range floor

Directivity—

HPBW φ₀-cut—

Peak SLL—

Elements—

Aperture—

Array layout draw your aperture

3D pattern |AF·EP| normalized, dB

auto-rotate show array

u-v map u = sinθ·cosφ, v = sinθ·sinφ

grating-lobe lattice

click u-v map	steer the beam to that direction
shift-click u-v map	drop an adaptive null (sector width in “Architecture & nulls”)
alt-click u-v map	place a barrage jammer (ERP/range in “Jamming”) — null it to win the range back
drag on Array layout	paint / erase elements — draw your aperture
Ctrl+Z	undo the last paint stroke
📌 pin	freeze current cuts as a dashed overlay, then change anything to compare
📊 Monte-Carlo	64 random hardware draws → SLL / gain / pointing histograms (yield tab)
Design / Analyze / Radar	sidebar modes — define the aperture, stress it, or run the radar systems view
f ⁄ f₀ slider	watch the beam squint off target; TTD holds it (Analyze; “animate band sweep” loops it)
▶ sweep scan	directivity / SLL / beamwidth vs commanded steer angle (Analyze)
Σ/Δ tab	monopulse sum & difference patterns along the beam azimuth (Analyze)
Radar mode	detection-range fan (scan envelope + the live beam's pattern-shaped coverage petal) and search-volume budget from the live realized array gain; pulsed/FMCW waveform, P_d/P_fa detection, PRF trade chart
Beam spoiling	quadratic-phase defocus (Analyze/Radar) — broadens the beam, drops gain, reshapes the search budget live
coverage tab	detection range over every direction of the current beam — the pattern as a range surface (Radar)
multipath tab	two-ray ground bounce: apparent monopulse height (or AoA error in °) vs range + coverage lobing; heights & ρ in the sidebar (Radar)
drag 3D view	orbit; scroll to zoom

Array layout draw your aperture

3D pattern |AF·EP| normalized, dB

u-v map u = sinθ·cosφ, v = sinθ·sinφ

Pattern cuts through beam azimuth

Scan sweep performance vs commanded steer

Radar performance range fan · coverage · multipath · PRF

Array layout draw your aperture

3D pattern |AF·EP| normalized, dB

u-v map u = sinθ·cosφ, v = sinθ·sinφ

Pattern cuts through beam azimuth

Scan sweep performance vs commanded steer

Radar performance range fan · coverage · multipath · PRF

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