Design of Maximally Sparse Antenna Arrays in the Presence of Mutual Coupling

An optimization framework is proposed that combines electromagnetic field simulations with an iterative l₁-norm minimization procedure to synthesize optimally sparse antenna arrays. The proposed approach overcomes the limitation of design methodologies that assume idealized antenna elements employing equal (isolated or isotropic) element patterns, as these yield suboptimal solutions when the antenna mutual coupling effects cannot be ignored. The latter is demonstrated for arrays of relatively strongly coupled dipole radiators.