Adaptive radiation pattern optimization for antenna arrays by phase perturbations using particle swarm optimization

In this paper, an optimal radiation pattern is obtained for a linear antenna array using the particle swarm optimization technique. A set of phase shift weights are generated in order to steer the beam towards any desired direction while keeping nulls in the direction of interferers. The fitness function that allows the calculations of the phase shift weights is presented. A comparison between the standard genetic algorithm and the particle swarm optimization was studied and the results show that the latter achieves a better and more consistent radiation pattern than the GA. Moreover, a number of experiments show that the PSO is capable of solving the problem using less number of fitness function evaluations in average.