A nonlinear method for array thinning is proposed. The method is based on hybrid usage of genetic algorithm (GA) and nonlinear apodization. The method proposes a special layout, which consists of two subarrays. Layout and weights for the subarray having larger aperture are designed by GA. Layout and weights for the second subarray are determined according to results of the aforementioned design. Dual apodization is applied to the outputs of the subarrays to obtain the output. Results show that there is an improvement in peak side-lobe level, beam width, and current taper ratio for particular test problems in the literature.
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