APASPlus

APASplus provides exactly the same functionality as APAS in combination new features. APASplus can be linked to other external MATLAB programs. Using external programs equipped with an MATLAB interface, APASPLus can address the functionality of APAS to perform typical APAS calculations. These external programs can control directly APASplus by bypassing its GUI followed by retrieving the calculated far-field data. These external programs can be written in C++ or any other language as long as these programs  have the capability to access directly software coded in MATLAB.

With APASPlus the use of the APAS phased array simulator can be largely extended to new applications like:

• Off-line batch processing with APAS 
• Integration with a radar simulator
• Connection of APAS to hardware oriented phased array simulators of vendors like Keysight of NI AWR
• Import in APAS of externally created array aperture tapers or illuminations
• Synthesis of aperture tapers dealing with main beam shaping
• Adding an user defined GUI

Off-line batch processing with APAS

Batch processing with APAS is of great interest when the performance of a phased array antenna design has to be evaluated over a wide range of scan directions in combination with many operating frequencies. Such evaluation requires a lot of 2-D and 1-D far-field computing including the processing of the computed far-field. This is therefore a substantial time-consuming operation that can be best performed using a batch job and not in an interactive way with APAS which requires permanent user’s intervention. Batch processing involves hardly any manual involvement and is therefore highly recommended since it is the least labor intensive and therefore the most efficient approach.

Integration with a radar simulator

Since APASPlus acts as MATLAB interface to APAS, using APASPlus provides the possibility to link APAS to any radar signal processing software equipped with a MATLAB interface. In this way APAS can be incorporated in software radar simulator in which APAS is used to compute the required far-field antenna radiation patterns needed to verify radar performance of the radar system under investigation. 

Connection to phased array software of other vendors

Several vendors like Keysight Technologies and NI AWR offer also software based phased array antenna simulators. Their simulators are primarily hardware oriented by taken the RF characteristics of the composing parts of an antenna like the element radiators, T/R modules and array feed networks up to the component level into account in the phased array antenna simulations. The phased array antenna simulators of KeySight and      NI AWR produce designs that match real world results by accounting for array & hardware imperfections. They model element RF architecture and provide characterization of the whole phased array antenna. APAS lacks this capability but offers on the other hand a very much higher computational speed for calculation of far-field antenna patterns and besides advanced processing of the antenna far-field.

Synthesize tapers dealing with main beam shaping

APAS lacks the functionality to take main beam shaping into account during the synthesis of low sidelobe tapers. Adding this functionality to APAS is not an easy task. However, using APASPlus the user can implement main beam shaping fairly easily.

Use of APAS with a user defined GUI 

APASPlus provides the possibility to equip this program with a custom GUI (Graphical User Interface) with the result a custom phased array simulator fully tailored to the requirements of the user.