Wideband antenna design through variable-fidelity EM simulations

Design optimization of wideband antennas is normally performed using repetitive electromagnetic (EM) simulations, which is necessary because simple theoretical models (if available) are not sufficiently accurate. As high-fidelity EM evaluation is computationally expensive, the adjustment of the geometry and/or material parameters of the antenna under consideration is a time consuming process. In this paper, we discuss the use of variable-fidelity simulations to speed up the design process. In our approach, the coarse-discretization EM model is used to find a reasonable approximation of the optimum design, whereas higher-fidelity simulations are utilized to refine the design. The overall design procedure is characterized by low computational cost because most of the operations are performed using coarse-discretization EM models. We consider a few variations of this technique and illustrate them with examples of wideband antennas.