Time-based sparse-array beamforming

Lam H. Nguyen; Jeffrey Sichina; Marc A. Ressler

doi:10.1117/12.438234

27 August 2001 Time-based sparse-array beamforming

Lam H. Nguyen, Jeffrey Sichina, Marc A. Ressler

Proceedings Volume 4382, Algorithms for Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery VIII; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.438234
Event: Aerospace/Defense Sensing, Simulation, and Controls, 2001, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

Most antenna beamforming is done with phase and amplitude weighting (either physically or computationally) on the returns from multiple antennas. This approach is based on the assumption that the signals involved are narrowband continuous-wave (cw) sources and, in fact, the antenna pattern is usually verified on a test range via a cw test source. When the antenna array has a limited number of elements spaced across a wide number of wavelengths, the grating lobes generated are typically large, resulting in 'ghost' returns and reduced target-to-clutter ratios. In contrast, we are working with radars that either use a short real-time pulse with a few megahertz of bandwidth, or use an equivalent step frequency or chirp source of appropriate bandwidth that is applied and transformed into an equivalent pulse through signal processing. In this paper, we present a time-domain backprojection image-formation approach and apodization technique that is more typically used in synthetic aperture radar. We show results from simulations showing the sidelobe performance of widely spaced sparse antenna arrays.

Citation Download Citation

Lam H. Nguyen, Jeffrey Sichina, and Marc A. Ressler "Time-based sparse-array beamforming", Proc. SPIE 4382, Algorithms for Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery VIII, (27 August 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.438234

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