Synthesis of Plane-Wave Generators via Nonredundant Sparse Arrays

A flexible approach for the synthesis of sparse arrays able to radiate plane waves in near-zone is proposed. In particular, the array dimension, the array element positions, and their weights are determined such to achieve the desired goal. Unlike existing techniques, the proposed one completely avoids the need for global optimizations, thus saving computational time and costs. Numerical examples, confirming potentialities of the proposed tools and algorithms, are discussed.