Methods of generating low redundancy direction finding array configurations

• Main Author: AL-Jalahma, Dafer R.
• Other Authors: Jenn, David C.
• Language: en_US
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2013
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/28356

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. === Standard uniformly spaced arrays are used to obtain direction information about jammers and other interference signals. In conventional systems the number of sources that can be identified by an array of N elements is N-1. Minimum redundancy arrays have the ability to handle more than N-1 interferers (up to N(N-1)/2) with N elements or less. They require the use of nonuniformly spaced array elements. The existing method for finding the element locations for an optimum minimum redundancy array (MRA) is restricted by its processing time. For a 10 element array with an array length of 36d (d is the fundamental element spacing, typically one half wavelength), the number of possibilities is much greater than 6 x10 to the 10th. Thus, even with today's fast computers, finding the optimum MRA for a large arrays is not practical. A new element locations are obtained from simple module computations, and by varying the base of the number systems, different configurations are generated. The residue array does not achieve the minimum redundancy of the optimum array, but has significantly lower redundancy than the conventional periodic array. The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are investigated, and the array response of each is compared. (MM)