Two-Dimensional Minimum Sensor Array: A New Perspective to Array Design

Abstract

In this article, we design/propose a new class of planar arrays sparsely located on a two dimensional lattice to achieve the highest Degrees Of Freedom for a given number of sensors. We formulate an optimization problem to search for a hole free 2D sparse array with the fewest possible sensors. We convert this problem into a nonlinear binary problem by changing the variables, then into a binary linear programming problem and solve it efficiently by employing Branch and Bound programming. Our results show that this optimal array outperforms alternative state-of-the-art 2D array geometries in terms of target resolution and DOA estimation accuracy given the number of sensors. Moreover, the proposed array outperforms other geometries in terms of the resolution probability of close targets and in presence of mutual coupling.