Sparse array design for wideband beamforming with reduced complexity in tapped delay-lines

Sparse wideband array design for sensor location optimization is highly nonlinear and it is traditionally solved by genetic algorithms (GAs) or other similar optimization methods. This is an extremely time-consuming process and an optimum solution is not always guaranteed. In this work, this problem is studied from the viewpoint of compressive sensing (CS). Although there have been CS-based methods proposed for the design of sparse narrowband arrays, its extension to the wideband case is not straightforward, as there are multiple coefficients associated with each sensor and they have to be simultaneously minimized in order to discard the corresponding sensor locations. At first, sensor location optimization for both general wideband beamforming and frequency invariant beamforming is considered. Then, sparsity in the tapped delay-line (TDL) coefficients associated with each sensor is considered in order to reduce the implementation complexity of each TDL. Finally, design of robust wideband arrays against norm-bounded steering vector errors is addressed. Design examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods, with comparisons drawn with a GA-based design method.