Abstract

Currently, there are significant interests in the antenna arrays that are composed of a large number of elements controlled by an appropriate optimizer for the next generation of wireless communication systems, where the massive multiple-inputs multiple-outputs (MIMO) systems are expected to play a major role in such systems. On the other hand, the interfering signals which are expected to rise dramatically in these applications due to the crowded spectrum represent a real challenging issue that limits and causes great degradation in their performances. To achieve an optimum performance, these antenna arrays should be optimized and designed to have maximum gain, narrow beam width, and very low sidelobes or deep nulls. Toward achieving this goal, the overall array performance can be either electronically controlling the design parameters, such as amplitude and/or phase excitations of the individual elements, or mechanically controlling the element positions. This chapter discusses techniques proposed for sidelobe nulling by optimizing the excitations and positions of selected elements in the linear and planar arrays.

Keywords: antenna arrays, array pattern synthesis, null steering, sidelobe reduction, optimization algorithms
