Circular antenna array synthesis using firefly algorithm

In this article, the design of circular antenna arrays (CAAs) and concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAAs) of isotropic radiators with optimum side lobe level (SLL) reduction is studied. The newly proposed global evolutionary optimization method; namely, the firefly algorithm (FA) is used to determine an optimum set of weights and positions for CAAs, and an optimum set of weights for CCAAs, that provides a radiation pattern with optimum SLL reduction with the constraint of a fixed major lobe beamwidth. The FA represents a new algorithm for optimization problems in electromagnetics. It is shown that the FA results provide a SLL reduction that is better than that obtained using well‐known algorithms, like the particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm (GA), and evolutionary programming. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:139–146, 2014.     

Synthesis of thinned concentric circular antenna arrays using teaching‐learning‐based optimization

In this article, the design of thinned concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAAs) of isotropic radiators with optimum side lobe level (SLL) reduction is studied. The newly proposed global evolutionary optimization method; namely, the teaching‐learning‐based optimization (TLBO) is used to determine an optimum set of turned ON elements of thinned CCAAs that provides a radiation pattern with optimum SLL reduction. The TLBO represents a new algorithm for optimization problems in electromagnetics and antennas. It is shown that the TLBO provides results that are somewhat better than those obtained using other evolutionary algorithms, like the firefly algorithm and biogeography based optimization. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:443–450, 2014.     

基于改进遗传算法的圆阵稀布方法

由于圆形阵列所具有的特性,使其正得到日益广泛的应用,但是圆阵方向图却具有相对主瓣较高的旁瓣电平。为此,针对稀布圆形阵列的天线单元使旁瓣电平尽量降低的问题,应用改进的遗传算法,取角度差值为染色体的基因,进行阵列孔径、单元个数、最小间隔一定的稀布优化排列,减小了遗传算法的搜索空间,提高了搜索效率。仿真结果表明:该方法能有效提高收敛速度、降低圆阵的旁瓣电平。     

Synthesis of circular arrays with sidelobes of individually arbitrary levels

Synthesis of circular antenna arrays to have individually arbitrary sidelobe levels, is investigated. Circular arrays are synthesized by applying a transformation to previously designed linear arrays. The antennas of the circular arrays are considered either isotropic or directive. The synthesized patterns are steerable without any distortion. Some examples are brought to verify the effectiveness of the proposed procedure for both isotropic and directive antennas.     

Optimization of circular antenna arrays using the cuckoo search algorithm

This article presents a study of circular antenna array design and optimization using the cuckoo search (CS) algorithm. The goal of optimization is to minimize the maximum sidelobe level with and without null steering. The CS algorithm is used to determine the parameters of the array elements that produce the desired radiation pattern. We illustrated the effectiveness of the CS in the design and optimization of circular antenna arrays by means of extensive numerical simulations. We compared our results with other methods from the literature whenever possible. We presented numerous examples that show the excellent performance and robustness of the CS algorithm and the results reveal that the design of circular antenna arrays using the CS algorithm provides acceptable enhancement compared with the uniform array or the design obtained using other optimization methods.     

A versatile pattern synthesis algorithm for circular antenna array

This article presents a versatile pattern synthesis algorithm for controlling the sidelobe level and nulling region for circular antenna arrays. Nonuniform fast Fourier transform using the min–max interpolation method is utilized to overcome the nonlinear feature of circular arrays. The major advantage of the proposed algorithm is low complexity, which is key for hardware implementation. Moreover, the proposed algorithm functions well in amplitude‐only pattern synthesis, which may be required for low‐cost array systems using attenuators instead of complete amplitude and phase adjustment modules. Additionally, element failure of antenna arrays can be minimized in practical operations by resynthesizing the pattern by using the remaining antennas to achieve satisfactory performance. Simulation results indicate the lower complexity and higher versatility of the proposed algorithm compared with the conventional methods.     

A new hybridized backtracking search optimization algorithm with differential evolution for sidelobe suppression of uniformly excited concentric circular antenna arrays

In this work, a hybridized combination of backtracking search algorithm (BSA) with differential evolution (DE) is proposed and applied on sidelobe suppression problem of uniformly excited concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAA). Each array is assumed to have isotropic elements and be placed on x‐y plane and has one center element. A search for optimal setting of ring radius and number of elements in each ring is carried out so as to achieve low sidelobe performance on overall azimuth plane. Care has been taken so that directivity does not get degraded as far as possible. Before applying this algorithm to CCAA design problem, BSA and the hybridized algorithm BSA‐DE are tested on five complex benchmark functions. Based on 30‐independent runs for each benchmark function, Wilcoxon's pairwise signed ranks test is utilized to judge the relative search performance of these two algorithms. The hybridized algorithm proves its superiority on almost all the considered benchmark functions. For the CCAA design problem dealt with in this work, BSA‐DE shows its superiority on one or both pattern parameters as well as structural parameters. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:262–268, 2015.     

Application of evolutionary optimization techniques for finding the optimal set of concentric circular antenna array

In this paper the maximum sidelobe level (SLL) reductions, optimal beam patterns and optimal beam widths of various designs of three-ring planar concentric circular antenna arrays (PCCAA) are examined using three different classes of evolutionary optimization techniques to finally determine the global optimal three-ring PCCAA design and then establish some sort of ranking among the techniques. Apart from physical construction of a PCCAA, one may broadly classify its design into two major categories: uniformly excited arrays and non-uniformly excited arrays. The present paper assumes non-uniform excitations and uniform spacing of excitation elements in each three-ring PCCAA design and a design goal of maximizing SLL reduction associated with optimal beam patterns and beam widths. The design problem is modeled as an optimization problem for each PCCAA design and solved using different evolutionary optimization techniques to determine an optimum set of normalized excitation weights for PCCAA elements, which, when incorporated, results in a radiation pattern with optimal (maximum) SLL reduction. Among the various PCCAA designs, one which yields the global minimum SLL with global minimum first null beamwidth is the global optimal design. In this work the three-ring PCCAA containing (N₁ = 4, N₂ = 6, N₃ = 8) elements proves to be such global optimal design. The optimization techniques employed are real coded GA (RGA), canonical PSO (CPSO), craziness based PSO (CRPSO), evolutionary programming (BEP), hybrid evolutionary programming (HEP). While ranking the techniques after 30 total runs for each design, HEP, CRPSO, RGA, CPSO, BGA hold the first five ranks in order of optimization capability. HEP yields global minimum SLL (?32.86 dB) and global minimum BWFN (77.0°) for the optimal design. BEP often changes the rank from second to fifth depending on the design set. Further, when compared to a uniformly excited PCCAA having equal number of elements and same radii a reduction of major lobe beamwidth is also observed in the optimal non-uniformly excited case.     

Design of planar concentric circular antenna arrays with reduced side lobe level using symbiotic organisms search

This paper investigates the design of concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAAs) with optimum side lobe level reduction using the Symbiotic Organisms Search (SOS) algorithm. Both thinned and full CCAAs are considered. SOS represents a rather new evolutionary algorithm for antenna array optimization. SOS is inspired by the symbiotic interaction strategies between different organisms in an ecosystem. SOS uses simple expressions to model the three common types of symbiotic relationships: mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. These expressions are used to find the global minimum of the fitness function. Unlike other methods, SOS is free of tuning parameters, which makes it an attractive optimization method. The results obtained using SOS are compared to those obtained using several optimization methods, like Biogeography-Based Optimization (BBO), Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO), and Evolutionary Programming (EP). It is shown that the SOS is a robust straightforward evolutionary algorithm that competes with other known methods.

     

An optimal circular antenna array design considering mutual coupling using heuristic approaches

This article shows the design of a non‐uniformly excited single ring circular antenna array (CAA) for the synthesis of optimal far‐field radiation characteristics. A recently proposed meta‐heuristic based optimization algorithm called gray wolf optimization (GWO) and state‐of‐the‐art swarm intelligence based evolutionary optimization technique known as particle swarm optimization with a distribution based update mechanism (PSOd) are individually applied to determine the optimum set of current excitation amplitude weights and the inter‐element spacing among the array elements to reduce the side lobe level and 3‐dB beamwidth considering the mutual coupling. The results obtained by employing PSOd and GWO are compared to those of the uniform radiation pattern and the recently published results of state‐of‐the‐art literature having equal sets of elements to show the superiority of employed approaches. Three different design examples of 8, 10, and 12 elements CAA are reported in this article to study the performances of PSOd and GWO algorithm‐based results over the results of other recently reported literature.     

基于遗传算法的圆柱阵列稀疏方法

由于共形阵列所具有的特性,使其正得到日益广泛的应用,但其耗用较多的阵元,方向图具有相对主瓣较高的旁瓣电平。为此,针对基本的共形阵列——圆柱阵列的天线阵元,应用经典遗传算法,以阵元的工作状态为优化参量,对其进行稀疏。减少了阵元数量,仿真结果表明,该方法能有效地降低圆柱阵列的旁瓣电平。     

Synthesis of sparse planar antenna arrays with multiple constraints

Synthesis of symmetrical sparse planar antenna arrays is introduced in this paper. In order to reduce the peak sidelobe level of the radiation pattern, the element positions of the arrays are optimized by invasive weed optimization with complex boundary conditions. The proposed algorithm changes a two‐dimensional optimization problem into a linear problem, which will reduce the complexity of the optimization procedure. The optimization method can constrain the size of the array aperture, the element number of the array, and the minimum spacing of the adjacent elements simultaneously. The simulation results show the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Low-sidelobe marine radar microstrip array antenna based on hybrid algorithm and metamaterial

A microstrip array antenna with low sidelobe level (SLL) for X-band marine radar is proposed. The antenna is composed of a 32-element patch array and a three-layer near-zero-index metamaterial (NZIM). The IABC-Kmeans algorithm, which combines the improved artificial bee colony algorithm and K-means clustering algorithm, is used to optimize the current amplitude of the array elements to obtain a lower SLL. The NZIM is loaded in front of the array antenna to reduce the beamwidth of the E-plane. The antenna is designed and fabricated. The measurement results show that the gain of the antenna at the center frequency is 22.7 dBi, the SLLs of H-plane and E-plane are ?30.66 dB and ? 26.78 dB respectively, and the half-power beamwidth of H-plane is 5.9°. Compared with the previous similar antenna structures, the antenna has lower SLL under the premise of narrow beam and high gain, which is very suitable for X-band marine radar of small and medium fishing vessels.     

Limits of compensation in a failed antenna array

In large antenna arrays, the possibility of occurrence of faults in some of the radiating elements cannot be precluded at all times. In such situations, the radiation pattern of the array gets distorted, mostly with an increase in sidelobe level and decrease in gain. Although it is not possible to restore the pattern fully by rearranging the excitations of the functioning elements, compensation methods have been reported in the literature for restoring one performance parameter of the array and making a trade‐off on some other parameter. In this article, we have made a study on the tolerance level of this compensation process. One part of the study deals with the thinning in the failed array, that is, to find a limit on the minimum number of functioning elements of the array that can restore the digital beamforming of the failed array. The second part of study deals with finding the maximum number of element failures that can be compensated. The study was carried out by optimizing the amplitude excitations of the failed array. Instead of classical optimization techniques, particle swarm optimization was used for the compensation process. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:635–645, 2014.     

Optimized element positions for prescribed radar cross section pattern of linear dipole arrays

Approximate closed‐form expression is derived for the scattering from dipole arrays based on the equivalent circuit theory. Then, a method is proposed for synthesis of dipole arrays to produce desired scattering pattern using genetic algorithm (GA). In the synthesis method, the element positions in an array are considered as the optimization parameter and the derived expression is used to evaluate the fitness function of GA. To assess the validity and efficiency of the proposed method, several linear dipole arrays are designed to obtain scattering pattern with low sidelobe level (SLL). A good agreement between the patterns calculated using the expression and simulated by FEKO validates the accuracy of the presented expression. In addition, the numerical results show that the maximum SLL of the scattering pattern is considerably reduced by optimization. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2011.     

Bit error rate reduction for circular ultrawideband antenna by dynamic differential evolution

The dynamic differential evolution (DDE) is used to synthesize the radiation pattern of the directional circular arc array to minimize the bit error rate (BER) performance in indoor ultrawideband (UWB) communication system. Using the impulse response of multipath channel, the BER performance of the synthesized antenna pattern on binary pulse amplitude modulation system can be calculated. Based on the topography of the circular antenna array and the BER formula, the array pattern synthesis problem can be reformulated into an optimization problem and solved by the DDE algorithm. The novelties of our approach are not only choosing BER as the object function instead of sidelobe level of the antenna pattern but also considering the antenna feed length effect of each array element. The strong point of the DDE algorithm is that it can find out the solution even if the performance index cannot be formulated by simple equations. Simulation results show that the synthesized antenna array pattern is effective to focus maximum gain to the line of site path which scales as the number of array elements. In other words, the receiver can increase the received signal energy to noise ratio. The synthesized array pattern also can mitigate severe multipath fading in complex propagation environment. As a result, the BER can be reduced substantially in indoor UWB communication system. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2012.     

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.     

Seeker optimization algorithm for interference suppression of linear antenna arrays by controlling position‐only,phase‐only,and amplitude‐only

In this article, a stochastic search technique based on seeker optimization algorithm (SOA) is proposed for null steering of linear antenna arrays by controlling the position‐only, phase‐only, and amplitude‐only. The SOA is relatively new optimization algorithm based on the concept of simulating the act of humans' intelligent search with their memory, experience, and uncertainty reasoning. Several numerical examples of Chebyshev pattern with the single, multiple, and broad nulls imposed at the directions of interference are given to illustrate the performance and flexibility of the proposed algorithm. For a comparison, the nulling patterns obtained by simulated annealing (SA) and tabu search (TS) algorithms are also given. Furthermore, the results of SOA are statistically compared with those of SA and TS algorithms. The statistical results of simulations show that SOA is superior to the other compared algorithms. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2011.     

Serial‐feed for a circular patch antenna with circular polarization suitable for arrays

A compact sequential‐rotation array with serial feed and three probes using multi‐layer substrate is proposed. The most compact shape for the microstrip patches are selected with the optimization for the axial ratio and return loss bandwidth. The gain, return loss, and axial ratio bandwidths of the antenna are improved significantly by converting three patches to one circular. The patch radius and the position of probes are selected to form circular Poynting vectors around it where the maximum power is present at large frequency range. While the two layers of the structure use similar board this structure only uses a substrate and three simple pins. Also the total area of the antenna is limited to the microstrip patch and it has a straightforward fabrication steps. So the wideband antenna is relatively inexpensive and compact. The antenna has 21.4% 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth in simulation and 21.1% in fabrication. Consequently, the serial‐multi‐fed circular patch with unique angular and phase arrangements is suitable for many applications as the antenna arrays. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:529–535, 2014.