Distributed Radar Main-lobe Interference Suppression Method Via Joint Optimization of Array Configuration and Subarray Element Number

To address the ineffectiveness of single-base radar in suppressing adjoint main-lobe interference, an equivalent large-aperture array can be designed by deploying sparse auxiliary arrays to separate main-lobe interference from targets in the spatial domain. However, this method is prone to generating spatial grating lobes. To overcome this problem, this study proposes a dual-parameter iterative optimization framework comprising two parts: array configuration optimization and subarray element number optimization. Array configuration optimization caters to the number of subarray elements and creates nulls in the main-lobe interference direction on the basis of the minimum variance distortionless response criterion. To suppress grating lobes of the beam an improved adaptive genetic particle swarm algorithm is used to optimize the array configuration under constraints, such as aperture size, minimum subarray spacing, and null depth in the main-lobe interference direction. Subarray element number optimization uses the above-mentioned algorithm to optimize the number of subarray elements under constraints, such as a limited number of subarray elements and null depth in the main-lobe interference direction, further suppressing beam grating lobes. Finally, numerical simulations confirmed the effectiveness of the dual-parameter iterative optimization framework for array configuration and element number under the same parameter conditions. Additionally, this study explores the performance boundaries of main-lobe interference suppression and grating lobe suppression for typical distributed mobile platform cooperative detection scenarios.