Mask-constrained power synthesis of maximally sparse linear arrays through a compressive-sensing-driven strategy

We propose a new deterministic approach to the synthesis of linear arrays having the least possible number of elements while radiating shaped beams lying in completely arbitrary power masks. The approach takes joint advantage from compressive sensing (CS), from the multiplicity of power patterns lying in a given mask, and from the multiplicity of field solutions corresponding to each of these power patterns. Care is taken in order to exploit the available degrees of freedom in an effective fashion, and in optimizing parameters that affect the CS performance. An extensive numerical comparison against state-of-the-art procedures proves the effectiveness of the approach.