Optimal synthesis of wideband beamforming weights for monopulse tracking radar-the linear array case

An innovative and effective strategy for the synthesis of fixed-geometry linear arrays generating sum and difference patterns for monopulse radar applications operating at maximum bandwidth is presented. The problem is formulated to obtain a sum pattern and a difference pattern with maximum directivity and slope along the boresight, respectively, while both satisfying mask-power constraints on the sidelobes. Moreover, the two beams share the same amplifiers to reduce the beamforming network complexity. An iterative convex programming strategy is used to find the common amplitude coefficients satisfying the requirements on the radiation patterns over the possible largest bandwidth. A numerical result is reported to validate the proposed method.