Combination of fast Fourier transform and self-adaptive differential evolution algorithm for synthesis of phase-only reconfigurable rectangular array antenna

Reconfigurable antenna arrays are often capable of radiating multiple patterns by altering the excitation phases of the array elements. In this paper, an efficient method based on FFT is presented for generating dual-radiation pattern from a single rectangular planar array by modifying the excitation phases of the array elements while sharing common amplitudes. The common amplitudes shared by both the patterns and the phases which play the role of turning between the two patterns when updated over zero phase among the elements are computed using Self-adaptive Differential Evolution (SaDE) algorithm. Two different beam-pairs of pencil/pencil and pencil/flat-top are generated from the proposed array while maintaining precise design specifications. The proposed method greatly reduces the computational time as compared with the conventional method for calculating beam patterns. The dynamic range ratio of the excitation amplitudes are kept below a threshold level to reduce the design complexity of the attenuators at the feed network level and to minimize the effect of mutual coupling among the array elements. To illustrate the effectiveness of SaDE, the fitness functions associated with the two beam-pairs are minimized individually using differential evolution (DE) algorithm and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Results clearly show the superiority of SaDE over DE and PSO to handle the proposed problem.