This thesis presents a novel concept for focusing an antenna beam pattern as a function
of range, time, and angle. In conventional phased arrays, beam steering is achieved by
applying a linear phase progression across the aperture. This thesis shows that by
applying an additional linear frequency shift across the elements, a new term is
generated which results in a scan angle that varies with range in the far-field.
Moreover, the antenna pattern is shown to scan in range and angle as a function of time.
These properties result in more flexible beam scan options for phased array antennas
than traditional phase shifter implementations. The thesis subsequently goes on to
investigate this phenomenon via full scale experimentation, and explores a number of
aspects of applying frequency diversity spatially across array antennas. This new form
of frequency diverse array may have applications to multipath mitigation, where a radio
signal takes two or more routes between the transmitter and receiver due to scattering
from natural and man-made objects. Since the interfering signals arrive from more than
one direction, the range-dependent and auto-scanning properties of the frequency
diverse array beam may be useful to isolate and suppress the interference. The
frequency diverse array may also have applications to wideband array steering, in lieu
of true time delay solutions which are often used to compensate for linear phase
progression with frequency across an array, and to sonar, where the speed of
propagation results in large percentage bandwidth, creating similar wideband array
effects. The frequency diverse array is also a stepping stone to more sophisticated joint
antenna and waveform design for the creation of new radar modes, such as simultaneous
multi-mode operation, for example, enabling joint synthetic aperture radar and ground
moving target indication