Design and development of virtual instrument for fault diagnosis in fractal antenna array

This paper deals with the development of a virtual instrument for fault diagnosis in fractal antenna array using Lab‐VIEW software. Faults in antenna array are considered on the basis of the radiation pattern. In this study, theta and gain values of radiation patterns for each fault are used in Lab‐VIEW for curve fitting. An artificial neural network (ANN) has been developed for fitted data points using the Leavenberg Marquard algorithm in MATLAB software and mean square error (MSE) is minimized. The designed ANN model has been embedded in the virtual instrument. The proposed virtual instrument system gets test patterns as input and generates output for several faults present in antenna array. Simulated and measured results of the fractal antenna array are validated experimentally. This virtual instrument model has not been developed for fractal antenna array so far.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

基于增广矩阵束方法的平面天线阵列综合

针对平面阵列的稀布优化问题,提出了一种基于增广矩阵束方法的减少阵元数目、求解阵元位置和设计幅度激励的优化方法。首先对期望平面阵的方向图进行采样并由采样点数据构造增广矩阵,对此矩阵进行奇异值(SVD)分解,确定在误差允许范围内所需的最小阵元数目;然后基于广义特征值分解分别计算两组特征值,并根据类ESPRIT算法对特征值进行配对;最后在最小二乘准则条件下根据正确的特征值对求解平面阵列的阵元位置和激励。仿真结果表明该算法具有较高的计算效率和数值精度。     

A nonuniform array of slots in the broad‐walls of rectangular waveguides partially filled with dielectric slabs

This article describes a new nonuniform slot antenna array in the broad wall of rectangular waveguides partially filled with a dielectric slab. The slot elements are nonuniformly spaced to achieve a higher side lobe level while the amplitude and phase of their excitations are identical. Each slot element is fed by one dielectric‐loaded rectangular waveguide with one end shorted for structural simplicity. Experimental results for an 8‐element linear slot array operating at X‐band show that the side lobe level is 15 dB over a frequency range from 9.5 GHz to 10.5 GHz. The simulated side lobe level can reach 20 dB for a 16‐element linear array. Experimental results show that the side lobe level of a slot array can be improved using nonuniform element spacing without degrading the broadside radiation and gain. © 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.     

Evolutionary optimization of Haferman carpet fractal patterned antenna array

This article investigates radiation characteristics of a new type of fractal shaped antenna array based on Haferman carpet geometry. An iterative feed matrix eases the complexity of array factor calculation that makes the array factor suitable for the application of any evolutionary optimization techniques. It is seen that Haferman carpet array produces peak side lobe level (PSLL) better than Sierpinski carpet that produces ?10 dB PSLL at every stage of growth. Optimization techniques have been applied for array element reduction and PSLL minimization at different stages of growth. Here, PSLL is minimized by turning off array elements and also by varying inter element spacing between the array elements. The optimized version of Haferman carpet array produces better characteristics (49.38% thinning with ?20.5 dB PSLL for stage‐2, 46.3% thinning with ?22 dB PSLL for stage‐3 and 42.3% thinning with ?21dB PSLL for stage‐4) than its original counterpart in terms of reduced element count and PSLL. Numerical results for obtaining optimized array performance exploit both DE as well as PSO. A comparative study on the performance is also presented. As a whole, Haferman carpet is seen to be more effective approach than Sierpinski carpet in fractal antenna paradigm. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:719–729, 2015.     

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.     

基于多斜率码链的阵列纠删码

针对当前大多阵列纠删码容错能力偏低以及构造时需要满足的约束条件较强的问题,提出一类基于码链构造的阵列纠删码。该阵列纠删码使用不同斜率码链组织数据元素和校验元素间的关系,从而能达到理论上不受限制的容错能力;而在构造时避开了类似素数约束的强约束条件,易于实用和扩展。仿真实验结果表明,相对于RS（Reed-Solomon）码,基于多斜率码链阵列纠删码在运算效率上的提升超过了2个数量级;在固定的容错能力下,存储效率能随着条块尺寸的增加而提高。此外,该类阵列码的修复代价和更新代价为一个固定常量,不会随着系统规模的扩大或容错能力的提高而增加。     

Phase‐only synthesis of planar arrays using autocorrelation matching method

Autocorrelation matching method is proposed for phase‐only synthesis of power pattern of planar antenna arrays. This method is based on equating the autocorrelation coefficients of a planar array having a specified amplitude of excitations to those of a conventionally designed planar array. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by synthesis of pencil‐beam and flat‐top patterns.     

An improved partially overlapped transmitting array for enhancement of wireless power transmission efficiency

In the conventional transmitting coil array for wireless power transmission (WPT), magnetic fields generated through the gaps between coil elements often reduce the overall magnetic fluxes and therefore the power transfer efficiency due to their directions. To overcome the problem, an overlapping of coil elements is applied to develop a WPT coil array system. In this article, the printed spiral coil is used as the resonance unit with low profile, miniaturization, easy to manufacture, and high integration. The overlapping 2 × 2 coil array is able to generate an enhanced magnetic field without dead points. In comparisons with the conventional system, the presented transmitting system provides a larger and more uniform magnetic field distribution with higher wireless power transmission efficiency. Both the simulation and measured efficiency are 70%‐78% at nine different observation points. Both simulation and measurement results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency as well as feasibility of the proposed system.     

可重构阵列的同步性能优化算法

可重构多处理器阵列上的容错技术可用来重构含有故障单元的处理器阵列,以便获得最大可用的目标阵列。现有的研究成果主要侧重于重构算法的构造,还没有涉及对重构后目标阵列的同步通讯性能的研究。提出了一种改善目标阵列同步通讯性能的电路优化算法,用来降低目标阵列行与行之间通讯的延时,使得相邻两行处理器的通讯尽可能达到同步。实验结果表明,提出的算法对不同大小、不同故障率的阵列都有相应的同步通讯性能的改善。     

Amplitude‐only pattern nulling of linear antenna arrays with the use of an immune algorithm

This article presents an optimization immune algorithm (opt‐IA) for null steering of linear antenna arrays by controlling only the element amplitudes. Nulling of the pattern is also achieved by controlling the phase‐only and the complex weights (both the amplitude and phase) of the array elements. The opt‐IA is a new evolutionary computing algorithm based on the clonal selection principle of immune system. To show the accuracy and flexibility of the proposed opt‐IA, several examples of Chebyshev array pattern with the imposed single, multiple, and broad nulls are given. It is found that the nulling technique based on opt‐IA is capable of steering the array nulls precisely to the undesired interference directions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2008.     

Viewing angle enhanced integral imaging display based on double‐micro‐lens array

A viewing angle enhanced integral imaging display, which consists of a double microlens array, and a display panel is proposed. The double microlens array includes a convex microlens array and a concave microlens array. The display panel is used to display original elemental image array. The convex microlens array, located near the display panel, is used to provide a virtual elemental image array for the concave microlens array. The concave microlens array, located far away from the display panel, is used to display integral images with the virtual elemental image array. Compared with the original elemental image, the pitch for each virtual elemental image is magnified by the corresponding convex microlens. As a result, the viewing angle is expanded. Simulations based on ray‐tracing are performed and the results agree well with the theory.     

Efficient design of compact millimeter wave microstrip linear array with bandwidth enhancement and sidelobe reduction

In this article, a novel linear mmWave antenna array with series‐feed network is proposed to enhance the bandwidth and reduce sidelobe level without increasing the patch size. The proposed linear array is consisted of four identical wideband array elements, which are all under operation TM₁₀ and TM₀₂ modes by loading shorting pin and rectangular slots. Additionally, through loading symmetry circle‐shaped slots for the four elements, impedance matching of linear array is achieved. Furthermore, multi‐parameters unified‐optimization (MPUO) based on imperial competition algorithm (ICA) is proposed to uniformly optimize all linear array parameters. To verify this design, the proposed linear array is fabricated with a small patch area of 7.5 × 3.914 × 0.254 mm³. The measured results show that the bandwidth is enhanced to 2.05GHz, which is 0.57GHz wider than that of simulation. The simulated peak gain reaches 13dBi while the sidelobe level is reduced to about ?19 dB at 28.6GHz. Moreover, the computation cost using MPUO is reduced by 98.12% compared with that of independent parameters optimization.     

Ten switched‐beams with 2 × 2 series‐fed 2.4 GHz array antenna and a simple beam‐switching network

This article presents a 2 × 2 series fed 2.4 GHz patch antenna array having multiple beam switching capabilities by using two simple 3 dB/90° couplers to achieve required amplitude and phase excitations for array elements with reduced complexity, cost and size. The beam switching performance with consistent gain and low side lobe levels (SLL) is achieved by exciting the array elements from orthogonally placed thin quarter‐wave (λ_g/4) feeds. The implemented array is capable to generate ten (10) switched‐beams in 2‐D space when series fed elements are excited from respective ports through 3 dB quadrature couplers. The dual polarized characteristics of presented array provide intrinsic interport isolation between perpendicularly placed ports through polarization diversity to achieve independent beam switching capabilities for intended directions. The implemented antenna array on 1.575 mm thick low loss (tan δ = 0.003) NH9450 substrate with ε_r = 4.5 ± 0.10 provides 10 dB return loss impedance bandwidth of more than 50 MHz. The measured beam switching loss is around 0.8 dB for beams switched at θ = ±20°, Ф = 0°, 90°, and 45° with average peak gain of 9.5 dBi and SLL ≤ ?10 dB in all cases. The novelty of this work is the capability of generating ten dual polarized switched‐beams by using only two 3 dB/90° couplers as beam controllers.     

Bacterial Foraging Optimization Approach to Portfolio Optimization

In this paper we propose a heuristic approach based on bacterial foraging optimization (BFO) in order to find the efficient frontier associated with the portfolio optimization (PO) problem. The PO model with cardinality and bounding constraints is a mixed quadratic and integer programming problem for which no exact algorithms can solve in an efficient way. Consequently, various heuristic algorithms, such as genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization, have been proposed in the past. This paper aims to examine the potential of a BFO algorithm in solving the PO problem. BFO is a new swarm intelligence technique that has been successfully applied to several real world problems. Through three operations, chemotaxis, reproduction, and elimination-dispersal, the proposed BFO algorithm can effectively solve a PO problem. The performance of the proposed approach was evaluated in computational tests on five benchmark data sets, and the results were compared to those obtained from existing heuristic algorithms. The proposed BFO algorithm is found to be superior to previous heuristic algorithms in terms of solution quality and time.     

Response‐correction‐based fault detection in small linear microstrip patch arrays using magnitude‐only far‐field pattern samples

We present a computationally efficient method for detecting faulty elements in a small linear microstrip patch array from samples of the array's far‐field magnitude radiation pattern (here represented by realistic EM simulations). Regardless of the array size, our method requires only one expensive full‐wave entire‐array simulation—compared to, e.g., the 696 required by the previous best method (Patnaik et al., IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 55 (2007), 775–777) for a 16‐element array. This one simulation gives the accurate far‐field magnitude pattern of the original defect‐free array, and is used in conjunction with the defect‐free array's analytical array factor to formulate a response correction function, which can then be used to construct an accurate approximation of the EM‐simulated pattern of any arbitrary faulty array at very low cost. The low cost and high accuracy of these approximations make possible an enumeration strategy for identifying the faulty elements, which would have been computationally prohibitive were EM‐simulated patterns to be used. Our method was robust in handling arrays of double the size considered in Patnaik et al., IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 55 (2007), 775–777, while expanding on (Patnaik et al., IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 55 (2007), 775–777) by also addressing partial faults and measurement noise. Accuracies in detecting up to three faults (including partial ones) in arrays of 16 and 32 elements exceeded 97% under noise‐free conditions, and were above 93% in the presence of 2 dB measurement noise. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 26:683–689, 2016.     

Antipodal tapered slot antenna array using broadband decoupling structure for mutual coupling reduction

In this article, an effective method to reduce the mutual coupling between the antipodal tapered slot antenna (ATSA) array is proposed. This method is mainly implemented by loading a set of decoupling structures (DS) perpendicular to the dielectric substrate between two antenna elements. The proposed DS can provide transmission forbidden band which can effectively prevent leaked electromagnetic waves. DS can operate in most frequency bands within 4 to 17.5 GHz. It can enhance about 23 dB isolation between the ATSA array without affecting bandwidth and radiation characteristics. The proposed ATSA arrays are fabricated and tested. The measured results can verify its excellent properties. The proposed broadband decoupling method is a suitable candidate for restrain mutual coupling of ultra‐wideband planar end‐fire antennas. This design sheds new light on broadband decoupling.