3D Pattern Synthesis of Time-Modulated Conformal Arrays with a Multiobjective Optimization Approach

Abstract

This paper addresses the synthesis of the three-dimensional (3D) radiation patterns of the time-modulated conformal arrays. Due to the nature of periodic time modulation, harmonic radiation patterns are generated at the multiples of the modulation frequency in time-modulated arrays. Thus, the optimization goal of the time-modulated conformal array includes the optimization of the sidelobe level at the operating frequency and the sideband levels (SBLs) at the harmonic frequency, and the design can be regarded as a multiobjective problem. The multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) is applied to optimize the switch-on instants and pulse durations of the time-modulated conformal array. To significantly reduce the optimization variables, the modified Bernstein polynomial is employed in the synthesis process. Furthermore, dual polarized patch antenna is designed as radiator to achieve low cross-polarization level during the beam scanning. A 12 × 13 (156)-element conical conformal microstrip array is simulated to demonstrate the proposed synthesis mechanism, and good results reveal the promising ability of the proposed algorithm in solving the synthesis of the time-modulated conformal arrays problem