A Sparse Shared Aperture Design for Simultaneous Transmit and Receive Arrays with Beam Constraints

Area of Science:

• Electromagnetics and Antenna Theory
• Signal Processing
• Array Antenna Design

Background:

• Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) phased arrays require advanced configuration for demanding applications.
• Efficient digital self-interference cancellation is crucial for STAR system functionality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel sparse shared aperture STAR reconfigurable phased array design.
• To optimize array configuration using beam constraints and a genetic algorithm.

Main Methods:

• A symmetrical shared aperture design was employed to enhance transmit and receive array efficiency.
• Sparse array techniques were integrated to reduce system complexity and hardware costs.
• A genetic algorithm was utilized to determine array shapes based on side lobe level (SLL), main lobe gain, and beam width constraints.

Main Results:

• The beam-constrained design reduced SLL by 4.1 dBi (transmit) and 7.1 dBi (receive).
• Achieved SLL improvement with a trade-off of reduced gain (1.9 dBi transmit, 2.1 dBi receive) and EII (3.9 dB).
• Sparsity ratios > 0.78 significantly improved SLL suppression with minimal gain attenuation (<3 dB).

Conclusions:

• The proposed sparse shared aperture design effectively balances high gain, low SLL, and cost reduction for STAR phased arrays.
• Beam constraints are vital for optimizing array performance in complex application scenarios.
• The genetic algorithm provides a robust method for designing reconfigurable phased arrays under specific performance criteria.