English

Abstract

In this work, the cockroach swarm optimization (CSO) technique was investigated for its potential to reduce side lobe levels of an array of linear antennae. This optimization technique is applied for antenna synthesis for the first time by the authors. Variations in the excitation phase, number of elements, and inter-element spacing were also investigated to determine their effects on the antenna's side lobe level (SLL). The objective of this work is to optimize the inter-element distance and the strength of the excitation signal using Cockroach Swarm Optimization. In order to achieve this goal, an objective function was developed for optimizing antenna parameters. MatLab was used to generate the cockroach swarm optimization algorithm. Excitation amplitude, inter-element spacing, and phase are the optimal antenna parameters that were considered. The research findings show that the side lobe level is minimized at an inter-element spacing of 0.5, which is in tandem with results obtained from literature using another analytical and numerical approach. The proposed CSO algorithm achieves peak SLL values of -13.10, -17.26, -24.14, and -28.05 dB for uniform inter-element spacing and excitation phase when 4, 8, 12, and 16 antenna elements are selected, respectively. Minimum HPBW values are 15 degrees, 11 degrees, 9 degrees, and 7 degrees. Not only were side lobes reduced, but the beam's breadth was also drastically reduced by 15%. The beam's diameter was narrowed to show increased directivity while the sidelobe level was decreased. For the number of elements N=16, the SLL is decreased by 1.29 dB, and the HPBW is decreased by 2° compared to particle swarm optimization. In the case of N = 12, reductions of 0.8 dB in SLL and 2° in HPBW are seen. The SLL and HPBW both decrease by 1.29 dB and 2° for N = 16. Also, when N=4, SSL= -17.1, HPBW=15°, N=8, SSL=-19.1 HPBW=12°. The research findings may find application in creating low-processing-burden smart antenna design.