Shared Aperture Multibeam Forming of Time‐Modulated Linear Array

Abstract

A novel technique is proposed in this paper for shared aperture multibeam forming in a complex time-modulated linear array. First, a uniform line array is interleaved randomly to form two sparse array subarrays. Subsequently, the theory of time modulation for linear arrays is applied in the constructed subarrays. In the meantime, the switch-on time sequences for each element of the two subarrays are optimized by an optimized differential evolution (DE) algorithm, i.e., the scaling factor of the sinusoidal iterative chaotic system and the adaptive crossover probability factor are used to enhance the diversity of the population. Lastly, the feasibility of the new technique is verified by the comparison between this technique and the basic multibeam algorithm in a shared aperture and the algorithm of iterative FFT. The results of simulations confirm that the proposed algorithm can form more desired beams, and it is superior to other similar approaches.

Time modulation based unconventional phased antenna arrays for monopulse and multifunction radar systems

“…TMLAs have also found suitable for sparse arrays using convex optimization method 30 . Multibeam forming through shared aperture subarrays, 31 and direction of arrival estimation using optimized time steps 32 have opened up the possibilities of using TMLAs for radar 33 and satellite communications 34 . The beneficial usage of harmonics have also created ample opportunities to use TMLAs for advanced communication application like femtocell cognitive radio systems 35,36 .…”