To increase the speed of recording echo signals and increase the speed of image recovery of reflectors, it is proposed to use a thinned switching matrix (SMC). To obtain a switching matrix that allows to obtain images minimally different from the image obtained by the full switching matrix (FMC), it is proposed to use a genetic algorithm. Two variants of optimization of the switching matrix are considered: element-wise thinning and column thinning. Numerical and model experiments have shown that a thinned switching matrix determined using a genetic algorithm, filled by 25%, allows the formation of images that differ from the image obtained by FMC, with an error of about 3%. Working with the switching matrix by columns allows you to increase the speed of recording echo signals by 4 times. The speed of image recovery increases by the same number of times.