Design of planar thinned arrays using a Boolean differential evolution algorithm

As a very powerful optimisation approach, differential evolution algorithm for continuous optimisation problems has been applied to electromagnetic (EM) design problems. However, the optimisation of a thinned array can be formulated as a discrete-variable optimisation problem with solutions encoded as binary strings. Here, a Boolean differential evolution (BDE) algorithm for 0-1 integer programming problems is proposed to design planar thinned arrays with minimum sidelobe levels. The BDE algorithm with only one control parameter is easily implemented. Meanwhile, a fast Fourier transform is employed to speed up the calculation of the pattern. Numerical experiments show that the BDE algorithm is an effective technique.