In an adaptive array setting, R.T. Compton Jr. and others demonstrated that pattern reconfigurable antennas can offer an added degree of freedom to mitigate the effects of grating nulls. This particular technique, which requires having antenna elements with specified beam tilts, seeks to maintain good output signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) when the array element spacing is relatively large. However, the methodology only specifies the requirements of an additional antenna element based on prior knowledge of the original array elements, which can lead to a limited possible solution space. Thus, this particular approach does not fully leverage the capabilities of the available pattern reconfigurability. The present work focuses on exploring ways to overcome this limitation by utilizing radiation reconfigurable antennas in an adaptive array setting not only in terms of their beam tilting capability but their null-forming ability as well. Incorporating pattern variability in this way supports more flexibility in adaptive array processing. Results of inclusion of pattern reconfigurability into an adopted optimization routine will be demonstrated.
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