Optimization of 1.5D arrays

1.5D arrays have been proposed to improve elevational beam focus over 1D arrays (D.G. Wildes et al., 1997). The design of 1.5D arrays is complicated by the potential for large elevational row dimensions which results in many possible design tradeoffs (P. Tournois et al., 1995). Here, the authors presents method for optimizing 1.5D arrays. The method is a global search by simulated annealing over the array parameters of row sizes, lens/electronic focus, and apodization in order to optimize a given beam criterion. The authors illustrate the method by showing how to minimize the peak sidelobe level by searching over row sizes and apodization in the farfield, narrowband case. The more realistic nearfield, broadband case is demonstrated by showing an example of 1.5D array optimization using this method