The Zeroth-Order Current Distribution in Arbitrary Arrays of Thin-Linear Dipoles

The potentials at the terminals of the elements of an array of N thin-linear dipoles is calculated using zeroth-order currents. It is shown that if even currents are present on the elements, the terminal potentials cannot be balanced, and that if the terminal potentials are balanced, odd currents must exist on the elements. A simple method of calculating the complex ratio of odd to even currents on each element is given. The method is applied to several arrays, and the results for tangential circular arrays are compared to an accurate numerical solution. The approximate method has the accuracy of the conventional zeroth-order solution, and is found to be best for half-wave dipoles.