Sparse Array for Beamforming in Wireless Communication Systems

The usefulness of smart antennas lies in enhancing the received signal from a particular direction while suppressing unwanted interfering signals and noise from other directions. This process is known as beamforming. In this paper, we study beamforming using different antenna array geometries to improve performance. We explore sparse arrays, including coprime and nested arrays, and employ a beamforming technique. The design of the antenna elements includes a half-wavelength dipole and a rectangular patch antenna. Crucial array parameters such as the envelope correlation coefficient, spatial gain diversity, and mutual coupling are evaluated. The array pattern after beamforming is presented for each array antenna, and it was demonstrated that the sparse array achieves superior results compared to the uniform linear array. This work contributes to the intelligent management of the wireless channel, addressing requirements such as higher capacity, frequency reuse, low delay, and reliability in new mobile technologies such as 5G and beyond.