Q-factor and bandwidth of periodic antenna arrays over ground plane

Abstract

In this paper, the Q-factor expression for periodic arrays over a ground plane is determined in terms of the electric current density within the array's unit cell. The expression accounts for the exact shape of the array element. The Q-factor formula includes integration only over a volume of an element in a unit cell, and can thus be efficiently implemented numerically. The examples show good agreement between the proposed Q-factor, the full-wave-calculated tuned fractional bandwidth, and the input-impedance-based formula by Yaghjian and Best (2005) for the array of tilted dipoles and the loops array.