Fast inter-element coupling analysis in finite arrays

Knowledge of the mutual interaction between antenna elements is of great importance for the design of antenna arrays. The analysis of large arrays based on rigorous full-wave methods becomes computationally prohibitive as the number of array elements increases; thus, some simplified yet accurate method is mandatory. In this work, an alternative approach based on small subarray full-wave analysis is proposed. Numerical results are provided to prove the accuracy and the efficiency of this method with respect to an ordinary method of moments (MoM) approach. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are then used to further speed up the analysis.