An Alternating Minimization Approach to Optimizing Subarray Configuration for a Large Phased Array

A large size phased array is a powerful system for surveillance, but must be appropriately decomposed as subarrays for efficient digital beamforming. One fundamental question is how to configure a large array as subarrays to satisfy various signal processing requirements. This work deals with two basic signal processing tasks, synthesizing multiple beams at subarray level and adaptively suppressing multiple interferences. Two optimization criteria to jointly design subarray configuration and digital weights for subarrays are proposed. To handle the large number of variables in the optimization formulations, we propose an alternating minimization approach with low computation cost. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

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