Processing spatially aliased arrays

A linear array can detect a plane wave signai at a wrong bearing if the signal wavelengths are shorter than twice the distance between the closest adjacent sensors. This penomenon, called spatial aliasing, is most pronounced when the bearing is near endfire. This paper presents a method for correcting spatial aliasing of broadband signals using the frequency-wavenumber approach to array processing. Also presented is a method for averaging the Fourier coefficients that will give a more accurate bearing estimator than the method presented by Clay, Hinich, and Shaman [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 53, 1161-1166 (1973)]. The methods discussed in this paper can be used for a sparse unequally spaced array which is detecting a dispersive signal.