Beam Pattern Synthesis Based on Hybrid Optimization Algorithm

As conventional methods for beam pattern synthesis can not always obtain the desired optimum pattern for the arbitrary underwater acoustic sensor arrays, a hybrid numerical synthesis method based on adaptive principle and genetic algorithm was presented in this paper. First, based on the adaptive theory, a given array was supposed as an adaptive array and its sidelobes were reduced by assigning a number of interference signals in the sidelobe region. An initial beam pattern was obtained after several iterations and adjustments of the interference intensity, and based on its parameters, a desired pattern was created. Then, an objective function based on the difference between the designed and desired patterns can be constructed. The pattern can be optimized by using the genetic algorithm to minimize the objective function. A design example for a double-circular array demonstrates the effectiveness of this method. Compared with the approaches existing before, the proposed method can reduce the sidelobe effectively and achieve less synthesis magnitude error in the mainlobe.The method can search for optimum attainable pattern for the specific elements if the desired pattern can not be found.