Radiometric Sensitivity and Angular Resolution Optimization of Thinned Linear Arrays in Microwave Interferometric Radiometry

Abstract

This communication addresses the thinned linear array design for the optimization of radiometric sensitivity and angular resolution, both of which are crucial characteristics of interferometric aperture synthesis radiometers (IASRs). First, we establish a multiobjective optimization model concerning their tradeoff. Then, three state-of-the-art search algorithms, namely, multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II), and nondominated neighbor immune algorithm (NNIA), are implemented for the design of linear interferometric arrays. Furthermore, a constraint principle of interferometric arrays is proposed to reveal the inherent relation among array parameters closely related to IASR performances, which would be useful for the multiobjective optimization of IASR arrays.