Antenna Pattern Restoration of Digital Antenna Array with Failed Elements

Introduction. Compensation for the negative impact of failed elements of digital antenna arrays on the characteristics of the antenna pattern is a key problem in the creation and operation of such systems. A large number of methods have been proposed to date to solve this problem. These are based on the search for a new amplitude–phase distribution in antenna elements, which allows the beamwidth and the side lobe level to remain unchanged. In the proposed methods, a new antenna weighting vector is searched in the weight space for the extremum of a quality function that accounts for the change of the antenna pattern due to failed elements. The search is performed by one of the known optimization methods, such as conjugate gradient, projection, genetic algorithms, etc. These methods implement some iterative search procedures, which significantly increases the time required to find the necessary solution and the load on the signal processor.

Aim. To develop a direct algorithm for restoring the antenna pattern of a digital antenna array in presence of failed elements.

Materials and methods. The developed recovery algorithm is based on the estimation of the spatial frequency of the received wave using signals in antenna elements by the least squares method.

Results. A simple, non-iterative algorithm for timely restoring the antenna pattern of a digital antenna array is proposed. The conducted computer simulation showed that for the signal-to-noise ratio of 20 dB in the antenna elements, the algorithm restores the directivity, antenna beamwidth, and the first side lobe level with an accuracy of no worse than 2, 5, and 1 %, respectively, of the values of these parameters in the absence of failed elements

Conclusion. The proposed algorithm for restoring the antenna pattern of a digital antenna array can be used in software of a signal processor controlling the operation of an antenna system to compensate for the influence of failed elements.

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