Static Thinning of Large Linear Antenna Arrays Using a Genetic Algorithm for THz Frequencies

This paper presents an optimization approach for static antenna array thinning using a genetic algorithm (GA). The goal is to reduce hardware complexity while maintaining a radiation pattern similar to that of a fully populated uniform linear array (ULA). The proposed method statically deactivates a specific percentage of the array elements, achieving the desired hardware complexity reduction. Furthermore, a previously proposed algorithm for compensating the beam squint effect in a hybrid beamforming architecture, initially tested on a ULA, is applied to the thinned array, demonstrating its effectiveness on non-uniformly distributed arrays.