Multibeam Antenna Arrays With Common Subarray Layouts

In this letter, an approach for the synthesis of multiple beam patterns sharing the same antenna array is numerically validated and enhanced. The approach is aimed at generating an optimal (principal) pattern with an independent set of excitations and K compromise patterns at the subarray level. The problem is mathematically formulated as the definition of a common subarray architecture and K independent sets of subarray weights such that the compromise patterns are close as much as possible to the K user-defined reference patterns. To reduce the level of the secondary lobes of the multiple patterns, a hybrid approach based on a deterministic procedure is applied.