ROC-Based Analysis of Sidelobe Suppression in Spatially Tapered Sparse Arrays for Target Detection in DoA Estimation
A. Lamoral-Coines (Microwave Sensing, Signals & Systems)
N. Petrov (Microwave Sensing, Signals & Systems)
R. Z. Syeda
A. Yarovoy (Microwave Sensing, Signals & Systems)
Y. Aslan (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
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Abstract
Sparse antenna arrays reduce hardware cost but introduce sidelobe-related challenges for direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation. Conventional array-design metrics such as sidelobe level (SLL) and half-power beamwidth do not directly predict how well a given geometry supports target detection, false-alarm control, or angular accuracy. This paper bridges that gap with a receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC)-based framework that quantifies probability of detection (P
D), false alarm rate (FAR), and angular root-mean-square error (RMSE) for equi-amplitude spatially tapered arrays (STAs). Three STA families are synthesized via convex optimization to isolate the effects of aperture scaling, inter-element spacing, and sidelobe-shaping objective, and each is benchmarked against aperture-matched uniform linear arrays through single-snapshot Monte Carlo simulations with two unequal-power sources spanning a 30dB dynamic range. A two-dimensional analysis maps P
D and RMSE jointly over angular separation and inter-source SNR difference, explicitly characterizing weak-target detectability beside a strong interferer. Three estimators - Bartlett beamforming, Orthogonal Matching Pursuit, and FOCUSS - are compared to reveal how pattern-limited and sparse-recovery methods exploit different array geometries. The results show that peak SLL reduction improves detection primarily in the low-FAR regime, yielding up to 0.2 gain in P
D per 10dB of SLL suppression at FAR = 10
-3 , while sparse estimators remain robust to irregular layouts. The proposed framework provides a direct, system-level link between STA synthesis parameters and practical DoA performance for radar and joint radar-communications systems.
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