Subarray Partition in Array Antenna Based on the Algorithm X

Subarray partition is usually employed in the design of array antennas. However, it is difficult to get an exact partition of an arbitrary antenna aperture with irregular-shaped subarrays. Based on the exact cover theory, a solution of the exact partition is developed using the algorithm X. We consider the fact that sometimes it would be unpractical to exactly partition an aperture with given-shaped subarrays. Therefore, the concept of slack unit is proposed to find the quasi-exact partition of apertures. Numerical experiments are carried out to demonstrate and validate the effectiveness of the algorithm X as well as the predominance of the irregular-shaped subarrays.