Subband design of fixed wideband beamformers based on the least squares approach

Subband method is an effective way to reduce the computational complexity of a wideband system and in this paper we study the subband design problem for fixed wideband beamformers, with an emphasis on the design of frequency invariant beamformers (FIBs). We first express the equivalent fullband beam response as a function of the subband beamformer coefficients and then formulate the design problem based on the least squares approach. One direct least squares formulation is first proposed for the design of a general wideband beamformer, and then extended to the FIB design case, followed by three further variations.