The possibility for modeling and analysis of small-size cylindrical arrays with Ansoft/sup /spl reg// 3D EM simulation software (HFSS) is presented. The antenna consists of 160 microstrip patches mounted over a cylindrical body with radius 9.1 cm. The radiators are spaced in Cartesian grid and cover the arc of 123/spl deg/. The array main beam scans only in the plane of the cylinder arc, where the phase front is formed out of 16 modules. They are progressively switched off with the increase of the beam tilt. 10 patches in the orthogonal plane are grouped in one module and excited with equal phases. The antenna polarization is linear and the main pattern characteristics simulated at boresight for its central frequency of operation (12.45 GHz) are: directivity=26.42 dB, peak sidelobes value=-13 dB and peak cross-polarization value=-20 dB.