A novel optimized conical antenna array structure for back lobe cancellation of uniform concentric circular antenna arrays

In wireless communication systems, the existence of the antenna array back lobe represents a significant source of interference, which causes degradation of the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), and power loss. In this paper, a novel optimized conical antenna array (O-CONAA) structure is proposed for back lobe cancellation of concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAA). Based on the CAA, It is considered to be made up Of several concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAA) which are placed in the X-Y plane. Firstly a non-optimized CONAA is constructed, by arranging these concentric CAAs with uniform vertical spacing along the Z-axis. Consequently, the CONAA seems to be treated as a combination between uniform CAAs and a linear antenna array (LAA). It has been noted that the CONAA radiation pattern has a back lobe amplitude the same as the main beam amplitude. The O-CONAA structure is suggested as a solution to this problem, which provides back lobe cancellation while maintaining the CONAA pattern characteristics like half power beamwidth (HPBW) side lobe level (SLL). The genetic algorithm(GA) approach is used in the O-CONAA structure to optimize the values of both CONAA inter-element spacing around the perimeter of each circle, and vertical spacing along the Z-axis to generate the desired radiation pattern

A novel optimized conical antenna array structure for back lobe cancellation of uniform concentric circular antenna arrays

In wireless communication systems, the existence of the antenna array back lobe represents a significant source of interference, which causes degradation of the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), and power loss. In this paper, a novel optimized conical antenna array (O-CONAA) structure is proposed for back lobe cancellation of concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAA). Based on the CAA, It is considered to be made up Of several concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAA) which are placed in the X-Y plane. Firstly a non-optimized CONAA is constructed, by arranging these concentric CAAs with uniform vertical spacing along the Z-axis. Consequently, the CONAA seems to be treated as a combination between uniform CAAs and a linear antenna array (LAA). It has been noted that the CONAA radiation pattern has a back lobe amplitude the same as the main beam amplitude. The O-CONAA structure is suggested as a solution to this problem, which provides back lobe cancellation while maintaining the CONAA pattern characteristics like half power beamwidth (HPBW) side lobe level (SLL). The genetic algorithm(GA) approach is used in the O-CONAA structure to optimize the values of both CONAA inter-element spacing around the perimeter of each circle, and vertical spacing along the Z-axis to generate the desired radiation pattern

Robust Hybrid Algorithm of PSO and SOCP for Grating Lobe Suppression and against Array Manifold Mismatch

Based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Second-Order Cone Programming (SOCP) algorithm, this paper proposes a hybrid optimization method to suppress the grating lobes of sparse arrays and improve the robustness of array layout. With the peak side-lobe level (PSLL) as the objective function, the paper adopts the particle swarm optimization as a global optimization algorithm to optimize the elements’ positions, the convex optimization as a local optimization algorithm to optimize the elements’ weights. The effectiveness of the grating lobes suppression (as low as -32.13 dB) by this method is illustrated through its application to the sparse linear array when the actual steering vector is known. To enhance the robustness of the optimized array, a rebuilt robust convex optimization model is adopted in the optimization of both array excitations and layout. When the array manifold mismatch error is 1cm, the PSLL by the robust algorithm can be compressed to -27dB, compared to that of -24dB by the ordinary optimization. Results of a set of representative numerical experiments show that the algorithm proposed in this paper can obtain a more robust array layout and matched elements’ weight coefficients to avoid the huge degradation of the array pattern performance in the presence of array manifold mismatch errors. The good performance of pattern synthesis demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed robust algorithm

Multi-Objective Evolutionary Optimization of Aperiodic Symmetrical Linear Arrays, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2017, nr 3

In this paper, a multi-objective approach is applied to the design of aperiodic linear arrays of antennas. The adopted procedure is based on a standard Matlab implementation of the Controlled Elitist Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II. Broadside symmetrical arrays of isotropic radiators are considered with both uniform and non-uniform excitations. The work focuses on whether, and in which design conditions, the aperiodic solutions obtained by the adopted standard multi-objective evolutionary procedure can approximate or outperform the Pareto-optimal front for the uniformspacing case computable by the Dolph-Chebyshev method

Characteristics of different focusing antennas in the near field region

Focusing antennas are of interest in many application including microwave wireless power transmission, remote (non-contact) sensing, and medical applications. Different kinds of antennas such as array antennas, reflector antennas and Fresnel zone plate (FZP) antennas have been used for these applications. Here, first, a new scheme in designing focused array antennas with desired sidelobe levels (SLLs) in the near field region is presented. The performance of the large focused array antennas is predicted based on the knowledge of the mutual admittances of a smaller array. The effects of various focal distances on the near field pattern of these antennas are investigated. Then, electric field pattern characteristics of the focused Fresnel zone plate lens antennas in the near-field region are presented. The FZP antenna fed by a circular horn is implemented and the effects of various focal lengths on the near field pattern of this antenna are examined. It is shown that the maximum field intensity occurs closer to the antenna aperture than to the focal point and this displacement increases as the focal point moves away from the antenna aperture. The focusing properties of ultra-wideband (UWB) array antennas are also presented. Large current radiator (LCR) antennas are modeled by replacing the antenna with a set of infinitesimal dipoles producing the same near field of the antenna. LCR antenna arrays are used to provide high concentration of microwave power into a small region. It is shown that the defocusing effect occurs in pulse radiating antennas as well. Invasive weed optimization (IWO), a new optimization algorithm, is also employed to optimize the pulsed array antenna. In the attempt of optimizing the focused arrays, a new scenario for designing thinned array antennas using this optimization method is introduced. It is shown that by using this method, the number of elements in the array can be optimized, which yields a more efficient pattern with less number of elements. By applying this new optimization method to UWB arrays, the peak power delivered to a localized region can be increased

1-D broadside-radiating leaky-wave antenna based on a numerically synthesized impedance surface

A newly-developed deterministic numerical technique for the automated design of metasurface antennas is applied here for the first time to the design of a 1-D printed Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA) for broadside radiation. The surface impedance synthesis process does not require any a priori knowledge on the impedance pattern, and starts from a mask constraint on the desired far-field and practical bounds on the unit cell impedance values. The designed reactance surface for broadside radiation exhibits a non conventional patterning; this highlights the merit of using an automated design process for a design well known to be challenging for analytical methods. The antenna is physically implemented with an array of metal strips with varying gap widths and simulation results show very good agreement with the predicted performance

Beam scanning by liquid-crystal biasing in a modified SIW structure

A fixed-frequency beam-scanning 1D antenna based on Liquid Crystals (LCs) is designed for application in 2D scanning with lateral alignment. The 2D array environment imposes full decoupling of adjacent 1D antennas, which often conflicts with the LC requirement of DC biasing: the proposed design accommodates both. The LC medium is placed inside a Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) modified to work as a Groove Gap Waveguide, with radiating slots etched on the upper broad wall, that radiates as a Leaky-Wave Antenna (LWA). This allows effective application of the DC bias voltage needed for tuning the LCs. At the same time, the RF field remains laterally confined, enabling the possibility to lay several antennas in parallel and achieve 2D beam scanning. The design is validated by simulation employing the actual properties of a commercial LC medium

Digital Filter Design Using Improved Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization

Digital filters are an important part of digital signal processing systems. Digital filters are divided into finite impulse response (FIR) digital filters and infinite impulse response (IIR) digital filters according to the length of their impulse responses. An FIR digital filter is easier to implement than an IIR digital filter because of its linear phase and stability properties. In terms of the stability of an IIR digital filter, the poles generated in the denominator are subject to stability constraints. In addition, a digital filter can be categorized as one-dimensional or multi-dimensional digital filters according to the dimensions of the signal to be processed. However, for the design of IIR digital filters, traditional design methods have the disadvantages of easy to fall into a local optimum and slow convergence. The Teaching-Learning-Based optimization (TLBO) algorithm has been proven beneficial in a wide range of engineering applications. To this end, this dissertation focusses on using TLBO and its improved algorithms to design five types of digital filters, which include linear phase FIR digital filters, multiobjective general FIR digital filters, multiobjective IIR digital filters, two-dimensional (2-D) linear phase FIR digital filters, and 2-D nonlinear phase FIR digital filters. Among them, linear phase FIR digital filters, 2-D linear phase FIR digital filters, and 2-D nonlinear phase FIR digital filters use single-objective type of TLBO algorithms to optimize; multiobjective general FIR digital filters use multiobjective non-dominated TLBO (MOTLBO) algorithm to optimize; and multiobjective IIR digital filters use MOTLBO with Euclidean distance to optimize. The design results of the five types of filter designs are compared to those obtained by other state-of-the-art design methods. In this dissertation, two major improvements are proposed to enhance the performance of the standard TLBO algorithm. The first improvement is to apply a gradient-based learning to replace the TLBO learner phase to reduce approximation error(s) and CPU time without sacrificing design accuracy for linear phase FIR digital filter design. The second improvement is to incorporate Manhattan distance to simplify the procedure of the multiobjective non-dominated TLBO (MOTLBO) algorithm for general FIR digital filter design. The design results obtained by the two improvements have demonstrated their efficiency and effectiveness

Design of Radio-Frequency Arrays for Ultra-High Field MRI

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an indispensable, non-invasive diagnostic tool for the assessment of disease and function. As an investigational device, MRI has found routine use in both basic science research and medicine for both human and non-human subjects. Due to the potential increase in spatial resolution, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the ability to exploit novel tissue contrasts, the main magnetic field strength of human MRI scanners has steadily increased since inception. Beginning in the early 1980’s, 0.15 T human MRI scanners have steadily risen in main magnetic field strength with ultra-high field (UHF) 8 T MRI systems deemed to be insignificant risk by the FDA (as of 2016). However, at UHF the electromagnetic fields describing the collective behaviour of spin dynamics in human tissue assume ‘wave-like’ behaviour due to an increase in the processional frequency of nuclei at UHF. At these frequencies, the electromagnetic interactions transition from purely near-field interactions to a mixture of near- and far-field mechanisms. Due to this, the transmission field at UHF can produce areas of localized power deposition – leading to tissue heating – as well as tissue-independent contrast in the reconstructed images. Correcting for these difficulties is typically achieved via multi-channel radio-frequency (RF) arrays. This technology allows multiple transmitting elements to synthesize a more uniform field that can selectively minimize areas of local power deposition and remove transmission field weighting from the final reconstructed image. This thesis provides several advancements in the design and construction of these arrays. First, in Chapter 2 a general framework for modeling the electromagnetic interactions occurring inside an RF array is adopted from multiply-coupled waveguide filters and applied to a subset of decoupling problems encountered when constructing RF arrays. It is demonstrated that using classic filter synthesis, RF arrays of arbitrary size and geometry can be decoupled via coupling matrix synthesis. Secondly, in Chapters 3 and 4 this framework is extended for designing distributed filters for simple decoupling of RF arrays and removing the iterative tuning portion of utilizing decoupling circuits when constructing RF arrays. Lastly, in Chapter 5 the coupling matrix synthesis framework is applied to the construction of a conformal transmit/receive RF array that is shape optimized to minimize power deposition in the human head during any routine MRI examination