Symmetric sparse linear array for active imaging

Sparse sensor arrays can achieve significantly more degrees of freedom than the number of elements by leveraging the co-array, a virtual structure that arises from the far field narrowband signal model. Although several sparse array configurations have been developed for passive sensing tasks, less attention has been paid to arrays suitable for active sensing. This paper presents a novel active sparse linear array, called the Interleaved Wichmann Array (IWA). The IWA only has a few closely spaced elements, which may make it more robust to mutual coupling effects. Closed-form expressions are provided for the key properties of the IWA. The parameters maximizing the array aperture for a given even number of elements are also found. The near field wideband performance of the array is demonstrated numerically in a coherent imaging scenario.