Acoustic beamforming using a novel correlation technique

This paper describes an alternative method of beamforming using a rotating array. It differs from the conventional phased array in that its elements are not fixed in position during operation. The array elements rotate in a circular path so that the phases of element outputs are position-dependent. The outputs of the elements, after phase steering if necessary, are correlated with each other to give the final array response. The virtue of this design is that good directional resolution can be achieved with a relatively small number of array elements thus reducing the cost of the array. The theoretical and experimental developments of the rotating array are presented in detail in this paper.