A computational inversion method for interference suppression in reconfigurable thinned ring arrays

An inversion strategy for dynamically thinning (i.e., turning on and off) the radiating elements of ring arrays in order to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio is presented. Since thinned arrays provide only average sidelobe performances, but the directions of arrival (DoAs) of interferences can be arbitrary, a set of thinning configurations that guarantee a sufficient interference rejection in the whole angular region outside the main lobe is off.-line selected. The on-off status of the array elements is then dynamically switched among such pre-computed thinning sequences until the one providing the best signal-to-interference performance is identified. A set of numerical results is reported and discussed to assess the effectiveness and potentialities as well as current limitations of the dynamic thinning approach in dealing with interference suppression of ring arrays.