• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2018

In this study, a new design method is developed to optimize the structure of an underwater sparse array sensor. The purpose of this research is to design the structure of a sparse array that has the performance equivalent to a fully sampled array. The directional factor of a sparse planar array is derived as a function of the structural parameters of the array. With the derived equation, the structure of the sparse array sensor is designed to have the performance equivalent to that of the fully array sensor through structural optimization of the number and location of transmitting and receiving elements in the array. The designed sparse array sensor shows beam patterns very close to those of the fully array sensor in terms of PSLL (Peak Side Lobe Level) and MLBW (Main Lobe Beam Width), which confirms the effectiveness of the present optimal design method. Further, the validity of the analytic beam patterns is verified by comparing them with those from the FEA (Finite Element Analysis) of the optimized sparse array structure.