Optimum Design of Linear Antenna Arrays Using a Hybrid MoM/GA Algorithm

Synthesis of arbitrarily shaped radiation patterns using linear antenna arrays has a significant importance in many applications. Many attempts based on analytical schemes are exerted for this purpose. However, these analytical methods are developed for specific problems, and usually synthesis of the radiation pattern is subject to only one restriction. On the other hand, optimization algorithms are utilized for more general problems. However, these algorithms require more computational time. In this letter, a new hybrid technique for synthesizing arbitrary-shaped radiation pattern using a linear array is developed. The algorithm is based on a combination between the method of moments (MoM) and the genetic algorithm (GA). The proposed algorithm is applied to synthesis of both symmetric and asymmetric radiation pattern distributions with minimum number of elements. Excellent agreement is obtained by comparison to other analytical and optimization techniques.