Sidelobe Level Suppression Research Articles

Fourier-based beamforming for 3D plane wave imaging and application in vector flow imaging using selective compounding

Objective. Ultrafast ultrasound imaging using planar or diverging waves for transmission is a promising approach for efficient 3D imaging with matrix arrays. This technique has advantages for B-mode imaging and advanced techniques, such as 3D vector flow imaging (VFI). The computation load of the cross-beam technique is associated with the number of transmit anglesmand receive anglesn. The full velocity vector is obtained using the least square fashion. However, the beamforming is repeatedm × ntimes using a conventional time-domain delay-and-sum (DAS) beamformer. In the 3D case, the collection and processing of data from different beams increase the amount of data that must be processed, requiring more storage capacity and processing power. Furthermore, the large computation complexity of DAS is another major concern. These challenges translate into longer computational times, increased complexity in data processing, and difficulty in real-time applications.Approach. In response to this issue, this study proposes a novel Fourier domain beamformer for 3D plane wave imaging, which significantly increases the computational speed. Additionally, a selective compounding strategy is proposed for VFI, which reduces the beamforming process fromm × ntom(wheremandnrepresent the number of transmission and reception, respectively), effectively shortening the processing time. The underlying principle is to decompose the receive wavefront into a series of plane waves with different slant angles. Each slant angle can produce a sub-volume for coherent or selective compounding. This method does not rely on the assumption that the plane wave is perfect and the results show that our proposed beamformer is better than DAS in terms of resolution and image contrast. In the case of velocity estimation, for the Fourier-based method, only Tx angles are assigned in the beamformer and the selective compounding method produces the final image with a specialized Rx angle.Main results. Simulation studies andin vitroexperiments confirm the efficacy of this new method. The proposed beamformer shows improved resolution and contrast performance compared to the DAS beamformer for B-mode imaging, with a suppressed sidelobe level. Furthermore, the proposed technique outperforms the conventional DAS method, as evidenced by lower mean bias and standard deviation in velocity estimation for VFI. Notably, the computation time has been shortened by 40 times, thus promoting the real-time application of this technique. The efficacy of this new method is verified through simulation studies andin vitroexperiments and evaluated by mean bias and standard deviation. Thein vitroresults reveal a better velocity estimation: the mean bias is 2.3%, 3.4%, and 5.0% forvx,vy, andvz, respectively. The mean standard deviation is 1.8%, 1.7%, and 3.4%. With DAS, the evaluated mean bias is 9.8%, 4.6%, and 6.7% and the measured mean standard deviation is 7.5%, 2.5%, and 3.9%.Significance. In this work, we propose a novel Fourier-based method for both B-mode imaging and functional VFI. The new beamformer is shown to produce better image quality and improved velocity estimation. Moreover, the new VFI computation time is reduced by 40 times compared to conventional methods. This new method may pave a new way for real-time 3D VFI applications.

Synthesis of concentric circular antenna array for reducing the sidelobe level by employing sine cosine optimization algorithm

AbstractThe sine cosine algorithm (SCA), a meta‐heuristic optimization method, is used in this study to provide a precise linear and elliptical antenna array design for synthesizing the ideal far‐field radiation pattern in the fifth‐generation (5G) communication spectrum. The wireless communication system will undergo dramatic changes thanks to the forthcoming 5G technology, which offers exceptionally high data rates, increased capacity, reduced latency, and outstanding service quality. The most important component of 5G communications is an accurate antenna array design for an optimum far‐field radiation pattern synthesis with a suppressed sidelobe level (SLL) value and half power beam width (HPBW). While long‐distance communication necessitates a low HPBW, the entire side lobe area needs a suppressed SLL to prevent interference. The SCA is used in this case to the optimal feeding currents applied to each array member in the design examples of the concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAA) discussed in this article. It shows the litheness and attainment of the propound algorithm named SCA, chosen CCAAs with three rings and varying amounts of components or antenna array sets those are stated as follows: Set I (4, 6, 8 elements), Set II (8, 10, 12 elements), Set III (6, 12, 18 elements), Set IV (8, 14, 20 elements) with and without the center element are amalgamate. Apply the PSO, Jaya, and SCA optimization algorithms for all four Sets of antenna arrays and compare the attained results; the SLL values achieved by the SCA technique are contrasted with those of other current optimization techniques. The outcomes of all examinations reveal that the SCA algorithm achieved a superior SLL reduction over other optimization techniques.

High‐gain dual‐wideband ±45° dual polarization (DWDP) antenna for indoor distributed antenna system (IDAS) applications

SummaryThis paper presents two different configurations of ±45° dual‐wideband dual‐polarized (DWDP) antennas. The antenna comprises eight end‐loaded broadband dipoles grouped into two sets based on the bands of operation. The high‐frequency dipoles are strategically placed within the low‐frequency ones to form the elementary unit. Further optimization has been performed on the elementary unit in terms of the radiator placement to suppress sidelobe levels for array formation. Both configurations are meticulously fabricated using an all‐metal structure, demonstrating durability and the simplicity of fabrication. The antenna designs achieve ±45° polarization, high gain, satisfactory cross‐polarization discrimination (XPD), and wide impedance bandwidth covering 0.67–1.04 GHz and 1.54–3 GHz bands. Despite the nested configuration, mutual coupling is well within acceptable limits. Formation of the array based on the optimum elementary unit has been investigated by simulation, revealing reasonable gain enhancement and low sidelobe levels across all bands. This comprehensive approach yields a robust, high‐performing antenna configuration suitable for indoor distributed antenna system (IDAS) applications.

A Collaborative Control Method of Transmission Amplitude and Phase for Transmitarray Antenna Design

In this paper, a collaborative control method of transmission amplitude and phase for transmitarray antenna (TA) design is proposed. In this proposed method, one of the most popular hypersurface fitting models, Gaussian stochastic process (GP) model, is utilized to construct an accurate surrogate model. Following this implementation, a mapping relationship between structural parameters of TA unit cell and its transmission amplitude and phase is established. The most advantage of this method is its applicability for general TA designs because it is much difficult to control the amplitude and phase of unit cell independently through adjusting separate structural parameters. To verify the high efficiency of the proposed method, three TA antennas with different scanning angles are designed to obtain high sidelobe suppression level. Measured results show that the proposed collaborative control method of amplitude and phase is much promising for high sidelobe suppression level in TA designs.

Multi‐Channel Wireless Communication Based on Amplitude‐Phase Reconfigurable Space‐Coding Beamforming Metasurface

AbstractReconfigurable metasurfaces have exhibited significant potential in wireless communication owing to their capacity to transmit information without relying on traditional complex radio frequency (RF) chain transmitters. Nonetheless, the majority of metasurface‐based wireless communication systems modulate signals only in the time domain. Here, an amplitude‐phase reconfigurable metasurface is proposed to establish a wireless communication system that can simultaneously transmit different messages to users by encoding digital signals within the spatial domain. By changing the bias voltages of varactors integrated in the meta‐atom, the reconfigurable metasurface can achieve independent 3‐bit phase and 1‐bit amplitude coding. Through a beamforming methodology, the proposed metasurface generates diverse scattering beams with suppressed sidelobe levels, which not only enables multiple channels through space coding but also reduces signal leakage in undesired directions. Numerical simulations and experiments are carried out to verify the beamforming scheme, and a dual‐channel wireless communication system is established. The results show that two distinct images can be simultaneously retrieved by two separate users, which demonstrates the dual‐channel transmission capability of the wireless communication system. The proposed strategy opens up an avenue for implementing multi‐channel wireless communication systems, which indicates its great potential in multiple‐user collaborative wireless communication and radar systems.

Joint Design of Receiving Filters and Complementary set of Sequences for ISAC With Sidelobe Level Suppression

Joint Design of Receiving Filters and Complementary set of Sequences for ISAC With Sidelobe Level Suppression

Suppression of Peak Sidelobe Level in Linear Symmetric Antenna Arrays Using Hybrid Grey Wolf and Improved Bat Algorithm

Suppression of Peak Sidelobe Level in Linear Symmetric Antenna Arrays Using Hybrid Grey Wolf and Improved Bat Algorithm

Synthesis of Concentric Circular Antenna Array Employing Jaya Algorithm

In the present scenario, Sidelobe Level (SLL) is treated as the most important parameter of the antenna array as it assists in suppressing interference and adjacent noise in wireless communication systems. As the maximum SLL value examined higher power wastage in unwanted signal direction, a transmitter of the communication system encounters major hitches. In this article, the optimum design of four various groups of Concentric Circular Antenna Array (CCAA) of the array antenna has been to lower SLL as much as possible. Optimum beam pattern synthesis of the proposed array antenna has been carried out by optimizing the standardized current distribution of the array antenna elements, all elements placed with fixed inter-element spacing. The work proposed algorithm is the Jaya optimization algorithm, the main aim of this technique is to describe the credibility of a currently chosen human social behaviour-based optimization algorithm known as Jaya. This very easy algorithm with lower complexity to synthesize Concentric Circular Antenna Array (CCAA) which is thoroughly utilized in the present scenario communication systems. The obtained results of the Jaya algorithm compared with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and previously published articles. The Jaya algorithm achieved an improved side lobe level reduction as correlated to the PSO algorithm, finally getting results to examine the improved ability of Jaya as the best suitable method and achieve better sidelobe level suppression.

An optimal linear and elliptical antenna array design using black widow optimisation for 5G communication

SummaryThis research illustrates a precise linear and elliptical antenna array design for synthesising the optimal far‐field radiation pattern in the fifth‐generation (5G) communication spectrum using a meta‐heuristic optimisation technique known as black widow optimisation (BWO). 5G communication is an emerging technology with revolutionary changes in the wireless communication system with ultra‐high data rate, enhanced capacity, low latency and good quality of service. An accurate antenna array design for an ideal far‐field radiation pattern synthesis with a suppressed side lobe level (SLL) value and half power beam width (HPBW) is the most crucial aspect of 5G communications. A suppressed SLL is necessary to reduce interference in the entire side lobe region, whereas a low HPBW is required for long‐distance communication. Here, the BWO is employed to find the optimal feeding current to each array element to lower the SLL and the HPBW value. The BWO algorithm sustains impeccable equity between the exploration and exploitation stages to impact different potential regions of the search space and generate new solutions to attain the global optima by evading the trap of local optima. The design examples of the linear antenna array (LAA) and elliptical antenna array (EAA) are illustrated in this article by applying the optimal feeding currents to each array element. Compared to the uniform antenna array and methodologies described in the recently published literature, the results obtained utilising the BWO algorithm for designing the LAAs and EAAs demonstrate a substantial development in the reduction of SLL and HPBW.

A specialized partial discretized optimization algorithm for SLL suppression in FSS design

Side Lobe Level (SLL) suppression is a challenging but essential part of frequency selective surface (FSS) structural design. The SLL of the radiation pattern is a key parameter demonstrating the directional anti-interference ability and mainly depends on the geometry of the FSS. However, the correlation between SLL and FSS structural parameters is extremely complicated. A minor FSS structure change may result in a drastic diversion in the sidelobe’s direction or level, making the SLL the most difficult parameter to optimize. In this paper, an efficient optimization method specifically for SLL suppression is proposed. We discretized the edges of split square ring FSS structures by binary representation and generated new patterns based on the genetic algorithm. Optimization results showed that in the most optimal structure, the SLL was −23.41 dB, exhibiting a 5.17 dB reduction. Meanwhile, the center frequency variation was less than 2%. Moreover, the computation time cost was reduced by over 90% compared with that of the fully discretized pattern optimization method, showing that this novel method was truly effective in getting SLL suppressed FSS structures.

Integrated lithium niobate optical phased array for two-dimensional beam steering.

Optical phased arrays (OPAs) with high speed, low power consumption, and low insertion loss are appealing for various applications, including light detection and ranging, free-space communication, image projection, and imaging. These OPAs can be achieved by fully harnessing the advantages of integrated lithium niobate (LN) photonics, which include high electro-optical modulation speed, low driving voltage, and low optical loss. Here we present an integrated LN OPA that operates in the near-infrared regime. Our experimental results demonstrate 24 × 8° two-dimensional beam steering, a far-field beam spot with a full width at half maximum of 2 × 0.6°, and a sidelobe suppression level of 10 dB. Furthermore, the phase modulator of our OPA exhibits a half-wave voltage of 6 V. The low power consumption exhibited by our OPA makes it highly attractive for a wide range of applications. Beyond conventional applications, our OPA's high speed opens up the possibility of novel applications such as high-density point cloud generation and tomographic holography.

A Sparse Shared Aperture Design for Simultaneous Transmit and Receive Arrays with Beam Constraints

The utilization of efficient digital self-interference cancellation technology enables the simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) phased array system to meet most application requirements through STAR capabilities. However, the development of application scenario requirements makes array configuration technology for STAR phased arrays increasingly important. Thus, this paper proposes a sparse shared aperture STAR reconfigurable phased array design based on beam constraints which are achieved by a genetic algorithm. Firstly, a design scheme for transmit and receive arrays with symmetrical shared apertures is adopted to improve the aperture efficiency of both transmit and receive arrays. Then, on the basis of shared aperture, sparse array design is introduced to further reduce system complexity and hardware costs. Finally, the shape of the transmit and receive arrays is determined by constraining the side lobe level (SLL), main lobe gain, and beam width. The simulated results indicate that the SLL of the transmit and receive patterns under beam-constrained design have been reduced by 4.1 dBi and 7.1 dBi, respectively. The cost of SLL improvement is a reduction in transmit gain, receive gain, and EII of 1.9 dBi, 2.1 dBi, and 3.9 dB, respectively. When the sparsity ratio is greater than 0.78, the SLL suppression effect is also significant, and the attenuation of EII, transmit, and receive gains do not exceed 3 dB and 2 dB, respectively. Overall, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of a sparse shared aperture design based on beam constraints in producing high gain, low SLL, and low-cost transmit and receive arrays.

Double-layer broadband transmission metasurface and its application in low sidelobe antenna

This study proposes a double-layer metasurface which is capable of conducting independent amplitude and phase modulation for transmitting x-polarized waves under y-polarized incidence. The phase modulation is controlled by regulating the opening angle of the middle metal ring. Meanwhile, amplitude modulation is achieved by adjusting the rotation angle of the opening ring structure. The cross-polarized transmission response achieves complete phase and amplitude coverage and exhibits wideband characteristic with which a 3 dB gain bandwidth of 54.6% (5.4–9.5 GHz). The polarization isolation level is lower than −20 dB. In the wideband frequency range, the average sidelobe level of phase-only modulated metalens antenna is less than −20 dB with the lowest value of −22.5 dB, and the intermediate sidelobe level of amplitude-phase independent modulated metalens antenna is less than −25 dB with the lowest value of −27.4 dB. Both numerical simulated and experimental results verify that the proposed metalens antenna realizes a 4.8 dB averages of the sidelobe level suppression compared with the phase-only modulation metalens antenna. Holding strong anti-interference performance due to its superiority in polarization isolation level and side lobe level, the proposed antenna embraces broad application prospects in point-to-point communication systems in jamming environments.

Low-Sidelobe Pattern Synthesis for Spaceborne Array Antenna Based on Improved Whale Optimization Algorithm

For the purpose of fulfilling the low sidelobe level (SLL) requirements for spaceborne phased array antenna pattern synthesis, this paper proposes a new improved whale optimization algorithm (IWOA). As a type of new heuristic algorithm inspired by whale hunting behavior, WOA has the advantages of simple structure, few parameters, fast optimization speed, and high precision. In this paper, improvements are made in three aspects of adaptive weight, spiral coefficient optimization, and optimal neighborhood perturbation, and the proposed algorithm is successfully applied to the intelligent calculation of antenna synthesis. In light of the engineering requirements, the mathematical model of the optimization problem is established, and the desired antenna pattern with high gain and low sidelobe is obtained using IWOA under the constraint that the amplitude variation is within 20 dB. Simulation results demonstrate that IWOA is superior in maximum sidelobe level (MSLL) suppression and convergence. Consequently, EM simulations were conducted on a 64-element planar array, with the results consistent with the theoretical simulation, verifying the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Single-Layer Interconnected Magneto-Electric Dipole Antenna Array for 5G Communication Applications

A high-gain and wideband interconnected magneto-electric (ME) dipole on a single-layer PCB substrate is designed for 5G communication applications. Microstrip lines and coplanar striplines (CPSs) serve as transmission lines to connect the ME dipole elements along the E-plane and the H-plane directions, respectively. Impedance matching and sidelobe-level suppression are the key challenges to design a large-scale interconnected ME dipole antenna array. It is shown that impedance matching can be improved by introducing slots and adjusting the width of microstrip lines. Sidelobe level can be enhanced by properly choosing the length of the microstrip lines. A 5 × 5 interconnected ME dipole array is fabricated on a single layer of the RT/duroid 5880 substrate. The proposed antenna exhibits a measured −10 dB impedance bandwidth of 14.5 GHz (52% at 28 GHz) and a maximal peak realized gain of 20.44 dBi at 27.5 GHz with a 3 dB gain bandwidth of 3.5 GHz (12.5% at 28 GHz). The proposed antenna array is a good candidate for 5G communication applications due to its advantages of simple feeding structure, wide bandwidth, high gain, and low profile.

Phase-Only Pattern Synthesis for Spaceborne Array Antenna Based on Improved Mayfly Optimization Algorithm

A new optimization algorithm—Improved Mayfly Optimization Algorithm (IMOA)—is proposed in this paper to fulfill the low sidelobe level (SLL) design requirements of the spaceborne array antenna. MOA is a new heuristic algorithm inspired by the flying behavior and mating process of mayflies. It has a unique speed updating system with great convergence, strong stability, fast solution speed, and high precision. Based on the MOA, IMOA not only introduces the adaptive inertial weight factor to enhance the search ability, but also uses the Levy flight strategy and the golden sine operator to improve the disadvantage of easily falling into the local optimal solution. Firstly, according to the antenna pattern requirements of high gain and low sidelobe, an optimization problem model is carried out. Then, the IMOA is applied to solve the problem by only controlling the phase under a given secondary amplitude distribution. Simulation results show that IMOA has great advantages in the maximum sidelobe level (MSLL) suppression and convergence speed. Finally, the EM simulations are conducted on the 528-element planar array antenna. The maximum sidelobe level suppression performances in the test are very consistent with the theoretical simulation, which verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed IMOA.

A novel beamforming technique using mmWave antenna arrays for 5G wireless communication networks

Millimeter wave (mmWave) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and beamforming technologies are most likely the integral parts and the key enablers of 5G-and-Beyond (5G-B) wireless communication systems. From that perspective, this manuscript proposes an efficient digital beamforming technique for 5G applications. The suggested approach is formulated based on a reliable sampling technique that effectively samples the interference-plus-noise covariance matrix (IPNCM) to construct an efficient projection matrix (PM). The proposed technique is therefore named interference-plus-noise PM (IPNPM) beamformer. Next, a compact-size rectangular microstrip antenna operating at 49.3 GHz having 1.7 GHz potential bandwidth is designed using CST microwave studio. The designed antenna is subsequently used to model a 32-element uniform linear array (ULA) representing a typical 5G base station. The elements of the modeled ULA are then manually fed with the complex-weights generated from the proposed beamformer to produce high-power beams and deep nulls toward the desired and undesired locations, respectively. To further improve the beamformer performance in terms of minimizing radiating power within undesired regions, an iterative sidelobe level (SLL) suppression technique is developed and integrated with the proposed beamformer. The conducted theoretical analysis justifies that the IPNPM beamformer requires less arithmetic operations than the well-known beamforming approaches. To reveal the benefits of the proposed technique, the array radiation pattern based on the proposed beamformer is plotted and compared with those for the three widely used approaches. An intensive Monte Carlo simulation is also carried out in which the IPNPM beamformer performance is systemically compared with the popular approaches based on the output signal to interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) criterion. The achieved results demonstrate that the proposed approach is superior and surpasses the rival algorithms in terms of generating deeper nulls, enhanced output SINR, and lower execution time. It is also demonstrated that, unlike the existing SLL reduction techniques, the newly developed SLL suppressor reduces the SLLs of the proposed beamformer to a predefined threshold value (i.e., −24 dB) after few iterations.

Synthesis of Continuous Source Current for Gain Enhancement and Sidelobe Suppression of High-Order Mode Dipoles

A synthesis method of continuous source current on a high-order mode dipole is proposed to enhance gain and suppress sidelobe levels (SLLs) based on compression coefficients. First, a high-order mode dipole with the current distribution determined by designed compression coefficients is proposed to generate a typical continuous source. Then, a pattern synthesis method of continuous source current is presented to enhance gain with desired SLLs by calculating the compression coefficients. Finally, the fifth-order mode dipole is designed to verify the proposed synthesis method. Both measurement and theoretical prediction show the gain of 6.6 dBi and an SLL of −13.3 dB by the single dipole of the length of 1.5 wavelengths at 3.25 GHz. Compared with an array composed of three convention half-wave dipoles, the proposed fifth-order mode dipole of a similar length achieves a gain increase up to 1.13 dBi, or an effective length increases up to 30% while the SLL keeps unchanged.

Performance Improvement of Mechanically Beam-Steerable Transmitarray Antennas by Using Offset Unifocal Phase Symmetry

This communication presents the concept of offset unifocal phase symmetry to improve the performance (gain, gain roll-off, sidelobe level, etc.,) of mechanically beam-steerable transmitarray (TA) antennas. The phase shifts are initially determined from an offset feed source to make the corresponding TA antenna radiate a tilted beam with high gain. The phase shifts are asymmetric and can be broadly divided into dominant and ordinary phase shifts with respect to the offset feed source. By mirroring the dominant phase shifts to make the phase shifts symmetric, it can enable symmetric radiation beams for symmetric offset feed sources and improve phase error. When the offset feed source is moving inward to steer the main beam, the phase error of the phase-shifting surface with respect to the feed source starts to occur, while the electric-field spillover/illumination from the feed source is improved, which can maintain the gains of scanning beams. To verify the validity of the concept, the performance of a beam-steerable TA antenna enabled by the offset unifocal phase symmetry has been simulated and compared with the counterparts of unifocal and bifocal beam-steerable TA antennas. The measured results agree well with the simulated ones, revealing that the beam-steerable TA antenna enabled by the offset unifocal phase symmetry can maintain realized gains of scanning beams, suppress sidelobe levels, and reduce gain roll-off within the beam-scanning coverage. The offset unifocal phase symmetry, in principle, is a generalized approach and applicable to reflectarray antennas to improve the beam-steerable performance as well.

Beam Shaping of Base Station Antenna Array by Using MMPTE

In this paper, a beam shaping scheme is presented for the optimal design of base station antenna array. The antenna array consists of four linearly arranged dual-band dual-polarized antenna elements, and it is designed to cover the LTE frequency band (2.3-2.69 GHz) and 5G frequency band (3.3-3.6 GHz). The shaped beams with possible maximum gain, suppressed sidelobe level smaller than -16 dB, front-to-back ratio larger than 18dB, and filled-up null point larger than -23 dB are accomplished through two steps by using the unconstrained methods of maximum power transmission efficiency (MMPET) and constrained MMPTE, respectively. In the proposed beam shaping scheme, all the realistic factors of the antenna array have been taken into account, such as the difference of element radiation patterns, complexity and tolerance of the element structure and spacing.