A new noniterative method for pattern synthesis of unequally spaced linear arrays

In this article, a new noniterative beam shaping method is introduced to synthesise array factor (AF) of an unequally spaced linear array (UESLA). The proposed method is based on eigenvector decomposition of sampled data matrix of a given pattern. Using matrix analysis, the eigenvalues and their corresponding eigenvectors of the sampled matrix are determined. It is shown that the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the sampled matrix are related to the locations and complex excitation coefficients of the array elements. According to the concept of generalized eigenvalue concept, the solution of locations and excitation coefficients is derived using least square method. In order to reduce the number of array elements, singular value decomposition is applied to obtain a low ranked matrix using rejection of nonzero eigenvalues. Using the approximated sampled matrix, the excitation and locations of the optimized array elements are calculated. A few comprehensive examples are investigated to verify the accuracy of the proposed method and the obtained results are compared with those of an equally spaced linear array (ESLA). It is shown that the total number of array elements in an UESLA is less than that of ESLA, which is the most advantage of the introduced method in AF synthesis.     

Cascaded neural network based small array synthesis with robustness to noise

A cascaded neural network approach has been presented in this paper to estimate the excitation for the desired field distribution using a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN). The article has employed an electromagnetic design example consisting of 5 × 5 and 6 × 6 planar antenna array of isotropic sources with inter element‐distance of 0.5λ to show the adaptation of the neural network model in estimating the desired output. A neural network is trained using a dataset of suitable excitation voltages and its corresponding radiation patterns, which proves to be efficient in predicting the excitation voltages required to generate the desired pattern. A set of techniques based on a cascaded neural network is adopted for pattern synthesis using magnitude and phase, magnitude only, and template‐based input data. The robustness of the method has also been tested by considering noise with different SNR levels. The results found in each case have a close fit with the desired pattern.     

Bees algorithm for design of dual‐beam linear antenna arrays with digital attenuators and digital phase shifters

This article describes a method of designing a reconfigurable dual‐beam linear antenna array using bees algorithm (BA). The BA is an optimization algorithm inspired by the behavior of the honey bees to find the optimal way of harvesting food resources around the hive. The proposed method is very simple and can be used directly in practice to synthesize multiple beam antenna arrays with digital attenuators and digital phase shifters. A good agreement between the desired pattern and the synthesized pattern using BA is obtained. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2008.     

Phase‐spacing optimization of linear microstrip antenna arrays using simulation‐based surrogate superposition models

A technique for simulation‐driven optimization of the phase excitation tapers and spacings for linear arrays of microstrip patch antennas is presented. Our technique exploits two models of the array under optimization: an analytical model which is based on the array factor, as well as an electromagnetic (EM) simulation‐based surrogate model of the entire array. The former is used to provide initial designs which meet the design requirements imposed on the radiation response. The latter is used for tuning of the array radiation response while controlling the array reflection response as well as for validation of the final design. Furthermore, the simulation‐based surrogate model allows for subsequent evaluation of the array responses in the beam scanning operation at negligible computational costs. The simulation‐based surrogate model is constructed with a superposition of simulated radiation and reflection responses of the array under design with only one radiator active at a time. Low computational cost of the surrogate model is ensured by the EM‐simulation data computed with coarse meshes. Reliability of the model is achieved by means of suitable correction carried out with respect to the high‐fidelity array model. The correction is performed iteratively in the optimization process. Performance, numerical efficiency, and accuracy of the technique is demonstrated with radiation pattern synthesis of linear arrays comprising 32 microstrip patch antennas by phase‐spacing optimization. Properties of the optimal designs in the beam scanning operation are then studied using the superposition models and compared to suitably selected reference designs. The proposed technique is versatile as it also can be applied for simulation‐based optimization of antenna arrays comprising other types of individually fed elements. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:536–547, 2015.     

Analysis of uniform circular arrays for adaptive beamforming applications using particle swarm optimization algorithm

In this article, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to calculate the complex excitations, amplitudes and phases, of the adaptive circular array elements. To illustrate the performance of this method for steering a signal in the desired direction and imposing nulls in the direction of interfering signals by controlling the complex excitation of each array element, two types of arrays are considered. A uniform circular array (UCA) and a planar uniform circular array (PUCA) with 16 elements of half‐wave dipoles are examined. Also, the performance of an adaptive array using 3‐bit amplitude and 4‐bit phase shifters are studied. In our analysis, the method of moments is used to estimate the response of the dipole UCAs in a mutual coupling environment. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2008.     

Alternative formulation and applications aspects of the generalized projection method for array antenna synthesis

An array synthesis technique is formulated, which implements the method of generalized projections in the array excitation space. This permits the use of relaxation in the overall recursion relation that is not possible with previous formulations, resulting in accelerated convergence for slowly converging problems. Weighted least squares is introduced as a backward operator in an integral way that enhances the method. Means are described for determining starting points that assist the synthesis algorithm in avoiding so‐called traps. The results obtained for a diverse selection of applications of the method are discussed. These demonstrate the effects on convergence of the use of relaxation, different pattern sampling angle selection schemes, and different starting point selection schemes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2009.     

Design of aperiodic planar arrays for isoflux radiation in GEO satellites by applying evolutionary optimization

The design of an aperiodic planar array is presented in this research. This design of aperiodic arrays considers the reduction of the side lobe level and the isoflux radiation requirements for GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) satellite applications. In this way, it is considered four different optimization cases. The first two cases are optimizations of amplitude and phase excitations for the antenna elements in a uniform antenna array and the last two cases are optimizations of positions of the antenna elements and certain number of levels of amplitude excitation in an aperiodic array. In this case, it is proposed a simple new approach combining the main idea of both thinned theory and random arrays approaches. For this optimization problem, the well-known method of Genetic Algorithms (GA) is utilized. The obtained results show the proper performance of the array factor to provide the isoflux radiation and low side lobe level. Depending on the performance requirements, the design of the aperiodic array could lead the satellite hardware to be reduced significantly even more that results presented previously in the literature.     

Design of a linear array antenna for shaped beam using genetic algorithm

A linear array antenna design with desired radiation pattern has been presented based on genetic algorithm (GA) approach. Examples of cosecant and flat‐topped beam patterns are illustrated to show the flexibility of GA to solve complex antenna synthesis problems by suitably selecting the fitness function, even with a simple GA. The results have been validated by IE3D electromagnetic simulation. The antenna arrays with different element geometries can also be implemented using the proposed technique. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2008.     

Pencil beam pattern synthesis of subarrayed planar array

The improved nonlinear least‐square method is introduced into the synthesis of subarrayed planar array. This method changes the traditional least‐square method's shortness of being sensitive to its initial conditions. The whole antenna aperture is divided into several subarrays and the excitation amplitude of each subarray is optimized. This can reduce the cost and complexity of the antenna array through common use of components or mass production of identical subarrays. Some numerical experiments are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:56–65, 2015.     

High gain substrate integrated waveguide beam scanning antenna with sub‐array elements

A method to enhance the gain of substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) beam scanning antenna is proposed in this article. 2 × 2 SIW cavity‐backed sub‐arrays are employed in array design. The antenna is constructed on two layers. The top layer places four SIW cavity‐backed sub‐arrays as radiating elements and the bottom layer is an SIW transmission line to feed the sub‐arrays. Beam scanning feature can be obtained due to the frequency dispersion. Moreover, through separating radiators to the other layer and using 2 × 2 SIW cavity‐backed sub‐arrays as radiating parts, the antenna gain is improved significantly. For a linear array, 4.1 to 6.8 dB gain enhancement is achieved compared to a conventional SIW beam scanning antenna with the same length. Then, the linear array is expanded to form a planar array for further gain improvement. A 64‐element planar beam scanning array is designed, fabricated, and tested. Experimental results show that the proposed planar array has a bandwidth from 18.5 GHz to 21. 5 GHz with beam scanning angle from ?5° to 11.5° and gain in the range of 20.5 to 21.8 dBi. The proposed high gain beam scanning antennas have potential applications in radar detection and imaging.     

Compact substrate integrated waveguide mono‐pulse antenna array

A compact monopulse antenna array based on substrate integrated waveguide technology is presented through this article. The design is fabricated on Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology consisting of a double‐layered 8‐cell array antenna with a slot in the middle‐ground metal used for aperture‐coupling excitation and reducing unwanted spurious emissions from feed network. The Impedance bandwidth and AR bandwidth are enhanced due to optimal feed network, including Rat‐Race coupler to generate sum and difference patterns for mono‐pulse applications operating at 10 GHz. The prototype of the proposed antenna with the size of 124*25 mm² is fabricated and tested. Measured results compared very well to simulation results obtained by CST microwave studio and show ?10‐dB impedance bandwidth of 4% and ?22 dB null‐depth in difference mode.     

An extended particle swarm optimization algorithm for pattern synthesis of conformal phased arrays

In this article, an extended particle swarm optimization (EPSO) algorithm is proposed for designing conformal phased arrays. On the basis of traditional particle swarm optimization (PSO), novel velocity updating mechanism, new exceeding boundary control operator, and global best perturbation are introduced in EPSO to overcome the drawbacks of PSO. To validate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, both the classical test functions and the scenarios concerning a 1 × 9‐element cylindrical conformal phased array and a 3 × 9(27)‐element cylindrical conformal array with flat‐top shaped‐beam pattern are presented. Simulation results show that the proposed method is superior to genetic algorithm (GA) and PSO when applied to both the classical test functions and the practical problems of conformal antenna array synthesis. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2010.     

Pattern synthesize of a cylindrical conformal array antenna by PSO algorithm

Pattern synthesize of conformal array antennas is often a challenging problem. Various optimization algorithms such as genetic, particle swarm optimization (PSO), and invasive weed optimization have already been used for pattern synthesizing of conformal arrays. In this paper, a focused beam is synthesized for a quarter cylindrical conformal array antenna using the PSO algorithm with small computations. The desired pattern is a focused beam at θ = 90° and ? = 45° with 10° beamwidth in elevation and 15° beamwidth in azimuth with ?20 dB side‐lobe level. This method can be used in general for synthesizing arbitrary desired patterns and array geometries.     

Systolic designs for Bernoulli''s method

In this paper systolic designs are presented for the implementation of Bernoulli's method for polynomial root solving. From a linear systolic array with feedback a systolic ring is derived that calculates the coefficients of Newton's Theorem. The ring is incorporated in a systolic system for calculating the dominant zeros of polynomial equations. The design is simulated soft-systolically in an OCCAm program which is listed in the Appendix.     

Bacteria foraging optimization in antenna engineering: An application to array fault finding

Finding fault elements in linear antenna arrays using bacteria foraging optimization (BFO) is presented. One of the better options of array diagnosis is to perform it by measuring the radiated field, because in this case, removal of the array from its working site is not required and thereby not interrupting its normal operation. This task of fault finding from far‐field data is designed as an optimization problem where the difference between the far‐field power pattern obtained for a given configuration of failed element(s) and the measured one is minimized w. r. t. the excitations of the array elements. This set of excitations on comparison with the excitations of the original array gives the idea of the fault position and their type, such as either complete fault or partial fault. BFO being relatively new to microwave community when compared with other soft‐computing techniques, its performance was observed w. r. t. time of computation and convergence of the iterative process. Possibility of finding the faults from random sample points and use of minimum number of sample points for array fault finding are the novelties of the present work. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.     

基于IMU阵列的标定方法

微电子机械系统(MEMS)技术的发展使惯性传感器行业发生了革命性的变化,这使得生产惯性传感器阵列成为可能。然而,低成本的惯性测量系统会受到比例因子和轴失准误差的影响,从而造成位置和姿态估计的精度降低。在单个IMU校正的基础上,设计了一套基于IMU阵列的标定方法,该标定方法为了解决传统六面法在标定IMU阵列过程中方向激励不足的问题,设计了正20面的校正装置,该标定方法不仅能够估计出IMU阵列中单个IMU的比例因子、轴失准误差和偏置,还能估计出阵列中不同IMU之间的坐标轴对齐误差。通过把标定结果和官方所给的校正参数进行对比,可以得到经过本文所提的IMU阵列标定方法得到的标定结果能够达到工厂标定结果的百分之五十到百分之九十。     

Frequency‐dependent behavioral‐model‐based nonlinear analysis and design of a low‐profile transmit active phased array antenna

Design and behavioral‐model‐based nonlinear analysis of a 3‐GHz active‐phased array antenna (APAA) are presented. Four nonlinear power amplifiers are employed in the output ports of the feeding network (FN) and analyzed based on a 5‐order polynomial model with frequency‐dependent coefficients. The FN is based on 4‐port new Gysel power dividers and combiners arranged in such a way to feed the array with Gaussian‐like amplitude and in‐phase distributions. Beam steering capability is obtained in 2 directions by a new technique including a phase shifter and an amplitude controller (AC). The features result in a low‐profile APAA whose design and fabrication complexity and cost are reduced. Single and 2‐tone power tests are performed to develop analytical expressions in nonlinear region for array factor as a function of the model, FN and the phase and ACs. A similar system with frequency‐independent model is also analyzed for comparison in terms of scan loss, beamwidth, side‐lobe level, beam position, and gain. A microstrip array antenna including the power amplifiers, pre‐amplifiers, AC, delay‐line‐based phase shifters and Gysels is fabricated and measured. The simulation results at the single and dual tones and the intermodulation products are presented which have a good agreement with the measurements.     

基于光束法平差的双线阵系统标定技术

针对线阵相机特殊使用场景中所需要的高精度图像,对线阵相机进行高精度标定。提出一种基于光束法平差的双线阵相机标定方法。通过背景差分法获取线阵相机的特征点的像素坐标。再利用已有的直接线性变换方法和非线性优化方法求出相机的内参,外参,畸变参数后,将得到的初始参数与世界坐标作为待优化集合,利用LM法和光束法平差对该集合进行更进一步的优化,使得双线阵系统的重投影误差降到最低。实验表明,该方法与传统的线阵相机标定方法相比重投影误差降低了75.01%。     

A quantized water cycle optimization algorithm for antenna array synthesis by using digital phase shifters

In this article, a quantized water cycle algorithm (QWCA) is used for the antenna array pattern synthesis with low side‐lobe levels (SLLs) and nulls at desired directions by using four‐bit digital phase shifters. In addition to the standard features as a metaheuristic algorithm, QWCA has an internal quantization mechanism and a precalculated array factor method. The latter provides an accelerated procedure to QWCA under favour of the digitized values that can be stored in a three‐dimensional array. This acceleration is based on the reality that the accessing data in the memory need less time than the usage of the mathematical functions throughout the optimization process. The internal quantization mechanism of QWCA is utilized to achieve digital values matching to the discrete values of the phase shifter instead of the simple rounding up/down routines after optimization. The numerical results showed that QWCA can obtain very good SLLs and null depth levels (NDLs) on the synthesized pattern. Moreover, the results are achieved in remarkably short optimization times. SLL and NDL values obtained by QWCA are also compared with the available literature values. The comparisons reveal that QWCA is able to produce better results than the other compared alternatives. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:21–29, 2015.     

Synthesis of concurrent multibeam and conical beam antenna arrays

An approach is presented to synthesize linear and planar antenna arrays to have concurrent multibeam radiation patterns as well as desired sidelobe levels. This approach is based on zeros perturbation of the pattern of linear arrays. Multibeam planar arrays are synthesized by both multiplying and transforming multibeam linear arrays. Besides, planar arrays having conical or ring type beam are synthesized by applying a special transformation to dual‐beam linear arrays. Some examples are brought to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach for both linear and planar arrays.