Optimization of bent wire antennas using genetic algorithms

In this paper, the genetic algorithms together with the moment methods are applied to find the optimum shape of bent wire antennas with maximum directivity. Initially, the shape for each half of a wire antenna is approximated by several parabolic segments. The bent wire antenna is then divided into several curve segments for the use of the moment methods. In the optimization procedure of genetic algorithm, the coefficients of the approximated parabolic functions of the wire shape are encoded into binary sequences, called genes, and a set of genes is a chromosome. These chromosomes undergo natural selection, mating, and mutation to arrive at the optimum solution. The genetic algorithms are very powerful for the optimization of antennas. They can optimize problems globally with many parameters, and do not require any gradient calculations and initial guess solution.