Log-period dipole array optimization

The log periodic dipole array is a commonly used broadband antenna. Design equations exist for calculating the size and spacings of the wires that make up the antenna. These equations fail to take into account the electromagnetic interactions between the wires, though. The Numerical Electromagnetics Code is an excellent wire modeling code for analyzing the full electromagnetic interactions of a wire antenna. In this paper we use the Nelder-Mead downhill simplex algorithm and a genetic algorithm to optimize the design of a log periodic dipole array. Modeling results show that a hybrid genetic algorithm/Nelder-Mead downhill simplex algorithm produce superior antenna designs to traditional analytical approaches or using the genetic algorithm or Nelder-Mead algorithm alone