Sparse arrays have been studied mainly to reduce the large numbers of elements in 2-D arrays. However, they can also provide an effective means of miniaturizing ultrasound 1-D array systems for point-of-care applications. Although a variety of sparse array design strategies have been proposed, designing an optimum sparse array to simultaneously satisfy the system specification requirements and performance criteria remains a challenge. This article presents an analytical approach for the design of an optimum pair of periodic sparse arrays (PSAs), one for transmission and the other for reception. The approach is based on three newly derived theorems that describe the most important properties of the two PSAs forming the sparse array pair and their relationship pertaining to the overall beam pattern. The proposed approach can be used to design 1-D sparse array pairs with arbitrary sparseness factors while meeting given performance criteria. The computer simulation verified that the spatial resolution of a 64-element phased array can be obtained with a PSA pair consisting of transmit and receive sparse arrays, of which the number of elements is reduced to 32 and 22, respectively.

中文翻译：

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设计用于手持式超声成像的最佳稀疏一维相控阵的分析方法。

研究稀疏阵列主要是为了减少二维阵列中的大量元素。但是，它们还可以提供一种有效的方法，可针对医疗现场应用将超声一维阵列系统小型化。尽管已经提出了多种稀疏阵列设计策略，但是设计一种最佳的稀疏阵列以同时满足系统规范要求和性能标准仍然是一个挑战。本文提出了一种分析方法，用于设计最佳的一对周期性稀疏阵列（PSA），一个用于发送，另一个用于接收。该方法基于三个新推导的定理，这些定理描述了形成稀疏阵列对的两个PSA的最重要特性及其与总体波束方向图的关系。所提出的方法可用于设计具有任意稀疏因子的一维稀疏阵列对，同时满足给定的性能标准。计算机仿真证明，可以使用由发送和接收稀疏阵列组成的PSA对获得64个元素的相控阵的空间分辨率，其中PSA对的数量分别减少到32和22。