Steerable Far-field Circular Array

Sensor arrays are used in various applications such as radar, sonar, communications, radio links and voice input systems. In this paper, we propose a new variable array structure, which allows array characteristics such as the look direction or the passband/stopband region to be varied easily. Most importantly, these characteristics can be changed by varying only a single steering or tuning parameter. The design problem is formulated to minimize the integral squared error between the array response and the desired response, which is reduced to a quadratic optimization problem. Design examples are presented to show that the look direction of the array can be designed to effectively steer over the angles of the required range.