Checkerboard-like low profile antenna optimization

This paper presents the automatic design of a low-profile directive antenna. The optimization is carried out by means of genetic algorithm (GA), with emphasis on the resulting radiated far-field and input matching. The algorithm is based on an integral equation formulation, solved with Method of Moments (MoM). The matrix resulting from the discretization of the antenna is computed once during the setup phase and then used at each iteration, pruning the rows and columns corresponding to parts removed from the antenna. A novel geometry is considered. It consists of a square plate of size 2λ × 2λ at the frequency of interest of 2.44 GHz, divided into 1016 removable metal sectors. No constraints are imposed to limit the complexity of the obtained geometry, resulting in a checkerboard structure. A prototype has been realized and measured for validation.