Abstract: In order to solve the problems of premature and local convergence of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, an improved PSO with wavelet mutation (IPSOWM) is proposed, in which mutation operator is applied to the selected particles with certain small probability. Furthermore, the improved algorithm is used in practice to synthesize linear array with digital attenuators and digital phase shifters. The simulation results indicate that the performances of the IPSOWM algorithm are superior to these of the cited references including convergence precision and stability, which means it is an effective method to solve the synthesis problem.