Null Steering in Adaptive Arrays using a Genetic Algorithm

Antennas are frequently requiréd to have beam steering, adaptive nulling and direction finding capabilities, and technologies already exist for performing some of these functions. In a new approach, we apply a genetic algorithm to solve the problem of null steering in adaptive arrays. It has been shown that it is possible to steer the array nulls precisely to the required interference directions and to achieve any prescribed null depths. A comparison with the results obtained from analytic solutions, for complex weights, element phases, or element positions, shows some advantage of using the genetic algorithm approach for null steering in linear array patterns. We also show its potential for conformal array design.