The methodological approaches to the use of genetic algorithm for the synthesis of the rational structure of the radar surveillance system are proposed in the paper. The structure of the radar surveillance system is presented in the form of an incidence matrix, which is used as a chromosome by the operators of the genetic algorithm. This matrix is used as a chromosome by the operators of the genetic algorithm. The elements of the incidence matrix that describe the relationships between the elements of the structure of the observation system are genes in the genetic algorithm. In each cycle of the genetic algorithm, a pair of chromosomes is paired, during which part of the genes are exchanged, which for the system under study means the appearance and disappearance of the corresponding connections between the elements. The calculation of the values of the efficiency of radar surveillance for each variant of the structure is proposed to be carried out using the ant colony optimization. The gain in the value of the conditional probability of correct detection with a fixed probability of false alarm is approximately 10% Keywords— genetic algorithm, artificial intelligence, optimization, route, radar surveillance system.