Design and synthesis of antenna array with movable elements along semicircular paths

Abstract

A reconfigurable antenna array design whose array elements can move along a semicircular path to synthesis radiation patterns is proposed. This movement is simply carried out by stepper motors without using any other actuators. The array factor of the new design is derived in order to construct the objective function and solve the optimization problem of required pattern synthesis. To validate the design, array patterns with single, symmetric double, multiple, and wide nulls are computed by only controlling element rotation angles with a quantized differential evolution algorithm. The results show that the obtained patterns fit in the restriction masks successfully. The method presented in this letter can also provide both symmetric and asymmetric patterns since the array elements have a freedom of movement in two dimensions.