IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2020 Jul;67(7):1354-1365. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2020.2973419. Epub 2020 Feb 12.
Sparse arrays have been studied mainly to reduce the large numbers of elements in 2-D arrays. However, they can also provide an effective means of miniaturizing ultrasound 1-D array systems for point-of-care applications. Although a variety of sparse array design strategies have been proposed, designing an optimum sparse array to simultaneously satisfy the system specification requirements and performance criteria remains a challenge. This article presents an analytical approach for the design of an optimum pair of periodic sparse arrays (PSAs), one for transmission and the other for reception. The approach is based on three newly derived theorems that describe the most important properties of the two PSAs forming the sparse array pair and their relationship pertaining to the overall beam pattern. The proposed approach can be used to design 1-D sparse array pairs with arbitrary sparseness factors while meeting given performance criteria. The computer simulation verified that the spatial resolution of a 64-element phased array can be obtained with a PSA pair consisting of transmit and receive sparse arrays, of which the number of elements is reduced to 32 and 22, respectively.
稀疏阵列主要是为了减少二维数组中的大量元素而被研究的。然而，它们也可以为用于即时护理应用的超声一维阵列系统的小型化提供有效的手段。尽管已经提出了各种稀疏阵列设计策略，但设计一个同时满足系统规格要求和性能标准的最佳稀疏阵列仍然是一个挑战。本文提出了一种用于设计最佳成对周期稀疏阵列（PSA）的分析方法，一个用于发射，另一个用于接收。该方法基于三个新推导的定理，描述了形成稀疏阵列对的两个 PSA 的最重要特性及其与整体波束图案的关系。所提出的方法可用于设计具有任意稀疏因子的一维稀疏阵列对，同时满足给定的性能标准。计算机模拟验证了可以使用由发射和接收稀疏阵列组成的 PSA 对来获得具有 64 个元素的相控阵的空间分辨率，其中发射和接收稀疏阵列的元素数量分别减少到 32 和 22。
