Almost uniformly excited arrays

Antenna arrays with good performance that are uniformly excited except for the amplitudes and/or phases of a small minority of elements can be synthesized using genetic algorithms. We consider only the achievement of low side lobe levels by symmetric linear and quadrantally symmetric square planar arrays in which either the phase or the amplitude of the excitation is uniform; although it must always be borne in mind that there is a trade-off between the demands put on the pattern and the simplicity of the aperture distribution, we note that in principle the same approach, possibly with alteration of both phase and amplitude, can be used to synthesize arrays generating more complex patterns.