A Grating Lobe Suppression Method Based on Convex Relaxation Iterative Optimization in Limited-Scanning Planar Array

Grating lobe (GL) suppression in planar-phased array antennas composed of periodic subarrays with large element spacing has attracted a lot of attention. In this letter, a GL suppression method based on convex relaxation iterative optimization was proposed for limited-scanning planar array. Starting from obtaining the modular structure with best radiation performance by tiling irregular subarrays, a convex relaxation iterative optimization method was raised to optimize the position of module center for suppressing the GLs. This strategy not only suppresses the GLs, but also greatly reduces the cost of array. The effectiveness and potential of the proposed method were verified by different numerical experiments.