Grating lobe reduction in a phased array of limited scanning

Amplitude and phase weighting at the subarray outputs alone causes grating lobes (GLs) in the array factor. A combined approach to disrupt the periodicity in the array is proposed to reduce the GLs. In this approach, three measures are simultaneously used. They are: (1) the optimized amplitude weighting at the subarray ports; (2) using the random subarray; and (3) the random staggering of the rows. The optimization was carried out by using genetic algorithms (GAs). The 24 (along X) x 32 (along Y) phased array was designed to verify the proposed approach. Along Y, the scan range is (-10 degrees, +10 degrees) and the subarrays are used. Along X, the scan range is (-45 degrees, +45 degrees) without using the subarrays. The comparison was done through array factor. In the whole two dimensional scan space, the simulated results show that the GL is -3.77 dB when using the conventional array, -4.28 dB when using(I)alone, -11 dB when using (2) alone, -14dB when using (3) alone, -20 dB when using the combined approach proposed in this paper. This approach can be used for a phased array with limited scanning and for the digital beamforming antenna array with adaptive nulling.