A Novel Deterministic Synthesis Technique for Constrained Sparse Array Design Problems

A novel analytical approach to the synthesis of linear sparse arrays with non-uniform amplitude excitation is presented and thoroughly discussed in this paper. The proposed technique, based on the concept of auxiliary array factor, is aimed at the deterministic determination of the optimal array element density and excitation tapering distributions useful to mimic a desired radiation pattern. In particular, the developed antenna placement method does not require any iterative or stochastic optimization procedure, resulting in a dramatic reduction of antenna design times. Selected examples are included in order to assess the effectiveness and versatility of the proposed approach in the framework of aperiodic array synthesis problems.