Simulation driven design of a microstrip antenna array by means of surrogate-based optimization

A planar (5 by 5) array of microstrip antennas is designed using full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulation and the surrogate-based optimization (SBO) methodology. The design goals include reduction of the sidelobe levels as well as keeping reflection signals low (better than -10dB) at the array element terminals. Our design approach exploits both low-fidelity EM simulation model of the array used as a prediction tool that, after suitable correction, guides the optimization process towards the high-fidelity EM model optimum. The design process starts from a uniform array configuration and comprises two major stages: radiation pattern optimization and reflection/mutual coupling minimization. Despite a large number of designable parameters, an optimized design is obtained at the cost of 15 equivalent high-fidelity EM simulations of the entire array.