Side lobe level reduction of thinned concentric elliptical array antenna in vertical and horizontal plane for a desired peak directivity

Abstract

AbstractThis study, describes the design problem of a thinned multiple concentric elliptical arrays of uniformly excited isotropic antennas using meta‐heuristic optimization algorithms; Teaching Learning Based Optimization (TLBO), Crow Search Algorithm (CSA) and Moth Flame Optimization (MFO) algorithm. Two simulations are performed here. In simulation 1, the synthesis of the thinned array structure is presented in the vertical plane at a scanning angle 30° and in simulation 2, the synthesis is performed in the horizontal plane. In both cases, our objective is to minimize side lobe level (SLL) to the extent possible and at the same time maximize the peak directivity to a level higher than the desired value. Here, all the optimization algorithms are applied to obtain the optimum number of switched on and off elements in every concentric ellipse that will meet the above objective. A comparative analysis of all three algorithms is performed using peak directivity, SLL and first null beam width (FNBW) as well as statistical parameters such as mean, SD, best cost function value and run time. To assess the enhanced outcome of the proposed optimization design comparison is also made with the results of a fully populated concentric elliptical array antenna (CEAA) for both the cases separately. This paper shows a measure of effectiveness and potential of all the algorithms mentioned above, for designing a thinned concentric elliptical array.