Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2608.11666

Sparse Rotatable Arrays (SRA): Unifying Array Aperture and Antenna Directivity for Wireless Communications

Ailing Zheng·Qingqing Wu·Xiyuan Liu·Wen Chen
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Sparse rotatable array (SRA) is a novel reconfigurable antenna architecture that jointly exploits sparse aperture configuration and antenna directivity to enhance spatial resolution for future wireless communications. Specifically, SRA activates a subset of rotatable antennas over a large candidate aperture and adjusts their boresight directions, thereby creating a directionally selective sparse aperture with reduced hardware requirements and enhanced spatial flexibility. In this paper, we investigate an SRA-aided multi-group communication system, where users are organized into spatial groups with different service requirements. We develop a group-aware SRA design framework by jointly optimizing the sparse-aperture allocation, RA orientations, and transmit beamforming to maximize the weighted max-min signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Then, we characterize the operating principles of SRA and reveal that sparse aperture improves spatial resolution by enlarging the effective array aperture, while antenna directivity suppresses inter-group coupling through directional control, thereby enabling simplified group-wise beamforming structures. Guided by these insights, we develop a structured low-complexity alternating optimization algorithm that embeds a closed-form projected group-center RA orientation rule into the sparse-aperture allocation and beamforming design. The proposed algorithm combines analysis-guided initialization, sampled multi-start antenna-allocation search, and bisection-based second-order cone programming for beamforming. Numerical results show that the proposed SRA design closely approaches fully-shared SRA benchmarks and significantly outperforms compact subarray and omni sparse-array schemes.

Explore related subjects

cs.ITmath.IT

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Ailing Zheng, Qingqing Wu, Xiyuan Liu, Wen Chen. 2026-08-25. Sparse Rotatable Arrays (SRA): Unifying Array Aperture and Antenna Directivity for Wireless Communications. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.11666

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Bistatic Target Detection by Exploiting Both Deterministic Pilots and Unknown Random Data Payloads

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) plays a crucial role in 6G, to enable innovative applications such as drone surveillance, urban air mobility, and low-altitude logistics. However, the hybrid ISAC signal, which comprises deterministic pilot and random data payload components, poses challenges for target detection due to two reasons: 1) these two components cause coupled shifts in both the mean and variance of the received signal, and 2) the random data payloads are typically unknown to the sensing receiver in the bistatic setting. Unfortunately, these challenges could not be tackled by existing target detection algorithms. In this paper, a generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT)-based detector is derived, by leveraging the known deterministic pilots and the statistical characteristics of the unknown random data payloads. Due to the analytical intractability of exact performance characterization, we perform an asymptotic analysis for the false alarm probability and detection probability of the proposed detector. The results highlight a critical trade-off: both deterministic and random components improve detection reliability, but the latter also brings statistical uncertainty that hinders detection performance. Simulations validate the theoretical findings and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed detector, which highlights the necessity of designing a dedicated detector to fully exploited the signaling resources assigned to random data payloads.

cs.IT↗
arXiv2026

On Unbiased Parameter Estimation and Signal Reconstruction

In this paper, we extend the theory of depth-unbiased source localization to unbiased parameter estimation and signal reconstruction for an arbitrary number of non-zero parameters. The topic touches on exact reconstructibility, most commonly studied in compressed sensing and multisource estimation across various imaging problems. The theoretical results derive upper bounds on the number of recoverable parameters in the noiseless case, and define a probability measure to assess the likelihood of recovering all non-zero parameters with correct magnitude order. The work provides a mathematical explanation of the open question regarding the noise robustness of standardized and unbiased methods. The paper also reveals a trade-off between the number of sensors and the signal-to-noise ratio. Numerical experiments demonstrate the theoretical findings.

cs.IT↗
arXiv2026

Minimum enclosing Bregman balls made easy

In this work, we revisit the problem of computing minimum enclosing Bregman balls (Bregman MEBs) of finite sets of parameters. First, we show that Bregman MEBs are equivalent to MEBs of corresponding weighted point sets with respect to the power distance. We then report an efficient Frank--Wolfe $(1+ε)$-approximation algorithm for computing power MEBs, for any $ε>0$. This power MEB approximation algorithm coincides with the Bregman MEB approximation algorithm of Nock and Nielsen (2005) when expressed in the dual gradient space. Finally, we show that the Bregman potential lifting transforms used to construct Bregman Voronoi diagrams can be reinterpreted as the classical paraboloid lifting transform applied to corresponding weighted point sets. In particular, Bregman MEB circumcenters lie on the farthest Bregman Voronoi diagrams or equivalently on the corresponding farthest power diagrams.

cs.IT↗