Heterogeneous Dispersed Antenna Array Design for Noncooperative Interference Cancellation

Noncooperative interference cancellation (NCIC) is one of the most promising anti-interference methods, by introducing auxiliary antennas cooperated with the main antenna of the sheltered information equipment. The specific main-auxiliary antenna configuration of the NCIC system triggered the investigation of the heterogeneous dispersed array, which is of great importance for not only the NCICs, but also many other applications. The spatial spectrum characteristics of the heterogeneous dispersed array are systematically investigated, including the main null, the side null, and the mainlobe. The spatial resolution of the main null is quantitatively described by utilizing the signal of interest (SoI) cancellation ratio; the physical meaning of the side null is interpreted, and the position distribution is investigated; the distortion properties of the mainlobe after interference cancellation is analyzed, predicting the performance changing of the main antenna. Based on the spatial spectrum analysis, the optimization methods for the heterogeneous dispersed antenna array are studied. First, the static array synthesis by elements location optimization is proposed, with the objectives of the spatial spectrum characteristics, and the constraints of the platform dimensions. Next, when the array element's location is fixed, the active array reconfiguration by antenna switching optimization is proposed by taking the minimum array configuration of the objective and the spatial spectrum performance for constraints. The proposed concepts and methods are validated by experiment results.