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Virginia Tech

Design and Analysis of Star Spiral with Application to Wideband Arrays with Variable Element Sizes

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This dissertation details the development of the star spiral antenna and demonstrates the advantages of the star spiral when used in a wideband array with variable element sizes. The wideband array with variable element sizes (WAVES) is a multi-octave array that uses different sized circular Archimedean spirals for each octave of frequency coverage. A two-octave WAVES array has been presented in the literature, but a gap in the two-octave frequency coverage exists along the principal axes. The star spiral antenna was developed to eliminate the performance gap in the WAVES array. The star spiral is a type of slow-wave spiral that also offers array-packing advantages, particularly for the WAVES array. The size reduction that can be achieved with the star spiral is comparable to that of the square spiral, but the star spiral is much more efficient in terms of its expected size reduction compared to its circumference. The far-field patterns, gain, and scan performance of the star spiral are similar to that of the circular Archimedean spiral. The use of the star spiral to eliminate the performance gap in a WAVES array of circular Archimedean spirals is detailed. Furthermore, a three-octave WAVES array of star spirals is built and measured, and the scan performance of the array is investigated via simulation.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Ph. D.
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2001

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Caswell, Eric D.
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Davis, William A.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Stutzman, Warren L.
  • Johnson, Lee W.
  • Safaai-Jazi, Ahmad
  • Brown, Gary S.

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-01082002-073223
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/25963

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Caswell, Eric D.. Design and Analysis of Star Spiral with Application to Wideband Arrays with Variable Element Sizes. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/25963