Sparse antenna array design for directional modulation

Abstract

Directional modulation (DM) can be achieved based on uniform linear arrays (ULAs), where the maximum half wavelength spacing is needed to avoid spatial aliasing. To exploit the degrees of freedom (DOFs) in the spatial domain, sparse arrays can be employed for more effective DM design. In this paper, the problem of antenna location optimisation for sparse arrays in the context of DM is addressed for the first time, where compressive sensing based formulations are proposed employing the group sparsity concept. Design examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed designs.