A technique of synthesis of near-field patterns of a nonuniformly spaced linear array of point dipoles with identical direction of current flow for each array element, or a uniformly spaced array of point dipoles with variation in direction of current flow for each dipole is presented. Further, it is described how one should prescribe the near-field (NF) pattern and how one should sample the same, while performing the NF pattern synthesis. Also discussed is how NF pattern synthesis should be performed so that the synthesized NF amplitude pattern closely follows a prescribed far-field amplitude pattern of the same array. Numerical computations are performed to demonstrate the validity of the physical concepts made use of in the technique proposed for performing the NF pattern synthesis successfully. Copyright © 1987 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.