Semi-Analytical Model Using the Uniform Theory of Diffraction for Single Feed High Gain Antenna Structure

The recent advancement in commercial electromagnetic computational solvers, along with the computational processing resources gives a huge advantage for antenna designers to study complex structures and optimize their performance. In addition, the huge leap in processors speeds, and the advent of parallel processing techniques made it possible to reduce the computation time dramatically. Consequently, this made it less attractive for designers to explore fast analytical models for their structures. The main drawback of the full and blind dependence on commercial solvers in the design process is the lack of the physical insight for the operating mechanism of the structure. On the other hand, despite that numerical and analytical series solutions can give an accurate solution to the electromagnetic problem being studied, they hardly can give an insight on the internal interactions and the operating mechanism of the structure. In this work we provide a semi-analytical model along with a thorough physical insight for a single feed high gain antenna structure. The provided model not only gives a powerful insight into understanding the radiation mechanism, but also is very computationally effective, and allows the use of antenna theory intuition, where the structure can be perceived as an antenna array, and the principles of array factor, power tapering, etc. can be intuitively used to understand and manipulate the structure radiation behavior.