Novel weight tapers based on optimal efficiency

A new set of amplitude tapers is presented that optimizes attenuative aperture efficiency with constraints that limit the peak gain on any element to be unity for a given desired maximum sidelobe level. The resultant weights produce antennas with higher gain to offer increased performance in terms of detection. Because the objective function is highly non-linear, a numerical optimization method was used which does not yield a closed form expression. Results and comparison with Villeneuve (the discretized form of Taylor) are presented for both uniform linear arrays and uniform planar arrays on rectangular lattices.