Effect of Linear Antenna Array Thinning on Its Directional Pattern Parameters

In this paper results are shown for an equidistant linear antenna array with isotropic elements. A previously proposed genetic algorithm is used as an optimization method. The effect of a number of inactive thinned antenna array elements (a thinning coefficient) on parameters of a directional patterns is described. These parameters are peak sidelobe level and half-power beamwidth. The most frequently used amplitude tapers such as uniform, Taylor, Chebyshev, Hamming, Blackman, and Blackman-Harris are discussed. An optimal thinning coefficient for each of the presented tapers is determined. The optimal values allow to achieve a better peak sidelobe level compared to full antenna array, while maintaining the initial half-power beamwidth. The peak sidelobe level gain for the uniform taper is approximately -7 dB in comparison with full array. Another taper that benefits from thinning is Taylor with initial sidelobe level at -30 dB. Although the gain is not as significant as for uniform taper.