On the reconfigurability of time-modulated linear arrays in the presence of failures

An easy and effective strategy for the reconfiguration of time-modulated linear arrays in presence of failures is proposed. Starting from the knowledge of the failed elements, the pulse sequence controlling the set of radio-frequency (RF) switches modulating the static excitations of the correct elements is properly reconfigured to obtain a radiation pattern at the antenna working frequency close as much as possible to the one generated by the array without failures. A suitable optimization algorithm based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is used to define the degrees of freedom describing the time-modulation sequence. A preliminary result is reported to show the behavior of the proposed method.