Thinned aperiodic linear phased array optimization for reduced grating lobes during scanning with input impedance bounds

Abstract

The scan volume of a thinned periodic linear phased array is proportional to the spacing between array elements. As the spacing between elements increases beyond a half wavelength, the scan range of the array will be significantly reduced due to the appearance of grating lobes. This paper investigates a method of creating thinned aperiodic, linear phased arrays through genetic algorithms that suppress the grating lobes with increased steering angles. In addition the genetic algorithm places restrictions on the driving point impedance of each element so that they are well behaved during scanning.