Sum pattern side lobe minimization for high‐efficiency linear arrays with a uniformly excited central segment

Abstract

We describe a new method for the synthesis of symmetric real linear arrays that have high aperture efficiency while generating sum patterns, all the side lobes of which are kept low. The high aperture efficiency is ensured by a block of central elements radiating at maximum power, while the low side lobes are achieved by making the excitations of the remaining elements proportional to those of a distribution obtained by perturbing the zeros of a line source pattern, the optimal perturbations being found by simulated annealing. Examples show that this method outperforms the constrained least squares method.