Performance analysis and advancement of self-steering arrays for nonsinusoidal waves. I

The principle of a self-steering array system which has been developed in theory for beam forming with nonsinusoidal waves is analyzed and computer-simulated. A tradeoff between the maximum-scan angle of the array system, the array length, the operating frequency bandwidth, and the signal power for a small-resolution angle is established. Such a tradeoff is desirable in practice, but is not applicable to the conventional method of beam forming with zero-bandwidth sinusoidal waves. A design criterion for the optimal reception of nonsinusoidal waves by a linear array of sensors is established. The simulation results of the signal processor of the self-steering array system show that the beam-steering mechanism based on slope processing is efficient in the absence of thermal noise. The principle of the signal processor is slightly modified to enhance its performance in practice. The design of a variable-delay circuit that uses a charge-transfer device is presented. A novel mechanism of delay-time adjustment is developed for the self-steering array system to improve its response time