Design of broadband beamformers based on an expected response interpolation technique

A method for designing of broadband beamformers based on an expected response interpolation technique is proposed in this paper, with the aim of reducing the heavy optimization burden in the broadband beamformer design problem. In the method, some typical frequencies in the designing frequency band are selected, and the optimal weights of the array are designed on these typical frequencies, based on which a broadband expected response function is constructed. Then, FIR filters are designed to realize the broadband beamforming over the whole designing frequency band, via the interpolation technique which is utilized to the expected responses of the FIR filters. Broadband beamforming can be fulfilled by applying these filters to each of the sensors in the array. By using the proposed method, designers need not to divide the whole designing frequency band into narrow subbands so as to make the narrow band assumption valid, which not only reduces the heavy designing burden, but also releases the requirement for measurements at fine frequency grids in the robust beamformer design. Results of both computer simulations and water tank experiments verified the effectiveness of the proposed method.