An array optimization technique

During the past two decades considerable emphasis has been expended on improving acoustic array performance, as is evidenced by the wide variety of theoretical techniques and algorithms which have been proposed for this purpose. In contrast to these techniques, this paper proposes a procedure for improving performance by selective sensor exclusion. The analysis is predicated on the fact that the signal to noise ratio varies from sensor to sensor. The analytical development demonstrates that improvement in signal to noise ratio can be realized when the choice is made to use "n-1" rather than "n" sensors from an "n" sensor array. The decision criteria are formulated by evaluating separately the influence on array performance of variations of the signal\´s amplitude and phase and the noise\´s amplitude and phase.