Propagation Properties of an Off-Axis Hollow Gaussian-Schell Model Vortex Beam in Anisotropic Oceanic Turbulence

Based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle and the power spectrum of anisotropic oceanic turbulence, the analytical expressions of the average intensity and coherence properties of an off-axis hollow Gaussian-Schell model (OAHGSM) vortex beam propagating through anisotropic oceanic turbulence were derived. The effects of turbulent ocean and beam characteristic parameters on the evolution properties of the OAHGSM vortex beam were analyzed in detail. Our numerical simulation results showed that the OAHGSM vortex beam with a larger position factor is more focusable. Meanwhile, the OAHGSM vortex beam eventually evolves into a Gaussian-like beam after propagating through the anisotropic oceanic turbulent channel. The speed of this process can be accelerated by the decrease of the hollow order, topological charge, beam width, and transverse coherence width of the beam. The results also indicated that the normalized average intensity spreads more greatly and the spectral degree of coherence decays more rapidly for the smaller dissipation rate of the kinetic energy per unit mass of fluid, the smaller anisotropic coefficient, the smaller inner scale factor, the larger dissipation rate of the mean-squared temperature, and the higher temperature–salinity contribution ratio.

Tilted-Beam Switched Array Antenna for UAV Mounted Radar Applications with 360° Coverage

A highly efficient antenna array for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) mounted radar applications with a tilted-beam characteristic and a 360° beam coverage is proposed in this paper. The proposed array antenna is configured by four planar super J-pole antennas with 2-dimensional ground reflectors. Each super J-pole antenna element provides a high directivity where the peak gain is tilted about 45° facing toward the ground from the bottom of a UAV body. Thus, the air-to-ground communication difficulty due to the altitude difference between the UAV and ground targets can be effectively solved. Further, the four super J-pole elements with a switched operation can cover the whole 360° areas around the UAV while high antenna gain is maintained. To verify the performance, the proposed structure was implemented at 5.9 GHz with an overall volume of 0.88 × 0.88 × 0.83 λo3. The measured 10-dB impedance bandwidths for all four antenna elements were better than 27.2% and the isolation among the four antenna ports was also always better than 13 dB. The measured peak gain was better than 7.4 dBi and tilted at 45° in the elevation angle. Lastly, the measured half power beam widths in elevation and azimuth planes were more than 60° and 87°, respectively.