Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/3134
Date of Award
6-2025
Degree Name
MS in Electrical Engineering
Department/Program
Electrical Engineering
College
College of Engineering
Advisor
Payam Nayeri
Advisor Department
Electrical Engineering
Advisor College
College of Engineering
Abstract
The thesis presents a novel approach to maximizing spectral efficiency by utilizing spatial spectrum sharing in digital sparse arrays through non-uniform element configurations. A genetic algorithm approach is developed to optimally place the array elements to achieve maximum beam orthogonality and isolation. The proposed method is compared against three different configurations, namely purely random, random with jitter, and the Van Der Corput sequence (a low-discrepancy sampling approach). Simulated results demonstrate that the genetic algorithm and jitter methods successfully meet design specifications for beam orthogonality, average interelement spacing, and computational time. At the same time, the random and Van Der Corput methods failed to satisfy the performance metrics. The genetic algorithm, in particular, produces a more consistently high beam orthogonality while maintaining faster convergence than the jitter approach. Overall, the thesis contributes to the recent demands of efficient spectrum utilization by means of high-isolation multibeam communication utilizing sparse digital arrays.