Synthesis of onboard array antennas including interaction with the mounting platform and mutual coupling effects

The synthesis of array antennas mounted on aircraft, ships, or any other ve hicular platform, is addressed here. Both the mutual coupling between the a rray elements, and their interaction with the mounting platform, are consid ered and introduced into the synthesis procedure. This is done by using a t hree-dimensional formulation of the Method of Moments, which models the cur rents induced on the platform and the antennas, combined with an optimizati on procedure. Some results are presented, illustrating the capability of th e proposed synthesis method.