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.