Identification of defective elements in antenna arrays through an inverse approach

An approach for the identification of defective elements in antenna arrays is presented in this paper. Specifically, the diagnostic problem is recast as the solution of an inverse problem, in which information about the excitation coefficients of the array is retrieved starting from measurements of the radiated field. Such an inverse problem is solved, in a regularized sense, using an inversion procedure developed in the framework of Lebesgue spaces. The effectiveness of the method has been numerically evaluated using realistic planar microstrip patch arrays, showing very good detection capabilities.