Design of a Six-Sector Switched Parasitic Planar Array Using the Method of Genetic Algorithms

Switched parasitic planar arrays, as possible implementations of smart antennas, and an efficient method of designing them are presented in this paper. The radiation pattern of an array can be controlled by a digital word, the insertion of which in the antenna feeding circuit achieves electronic beam steering. The 1s and the 0s in the digital word represent the active and short-circuited elements in the array, respectively. The aim of the design is to cover the azimuth plane with six radiation patterns, each one having 3 dB beamwidth equal to 60° and relative sidelobe level not more than –3 dB. The well-known genetic algorithms are used tooptimize the antenna performance, determining the element positions and voltage phase values. This is made feasible by selecting the digital words, among the 2N−1 available (N-number of elements), which maximize theobjective function containing the pattern requirements of the design. The numerical results presented show a possible application of this idea. An array of seven identical dipoles λ/2 offers diagrams, with an average 3 dB beamwidth equal to 63°. Relative sidelobe levels lower than –3 dB are obtained. Simulations at different frequencies prove that thearraydesigned here is a narrowband one and its bandwidth is 2.5% of the carrier frequency.