Study of lens shaped arrays

Sensor arrays of different geometric configurations are used in Sonar and Radar to improve the detection performance. Conventional arrays used in sonar are having limited aperture due to the constraints imposed by the dome and the platform in which they are fitted. Cylindrical arrays with circular cross section are the most widely used configuration. However dimensionally these are not the optimal arrays as they fail to fully utilise the extended length of the streamlined dome. A cylindrical array with Iens shaped cross section, a better suited configuration for the dome, provides a wider broaside aperture and increased array gain. In this paper we discuss, the theory of lens shaped arrays and compare their performance with circular arrays.