This paper discusses the architecture of an adaptive transmitting microstrip array that allows highly flexible beamsteering and beamshaping. The antenna array is digitally controlled by a field programmable gate array (FPGA) board. The power and phase of the excitation signals delivered to the array elements are optimized using an algorithm based on particle swarm optimization (PSO), which includes all electromagnetic effects such as mutual coupling and installed performance. Further, the efficiency of the proposed approach is validated by synthesizing various beam patterns, including side lobe level control and beam shaping for cosecant squared and isoflux contours. Very good agreement between simulated and measured results is thereby observed. The paper also addresses implementation aspects that are not reported in detail in literature, such as the compensation for the faulty antennas or transmitting channels, as well as the calibration procedure applied for the experimental validation of the proposed architecture.INDEX TERMS Active element pattern, beamforming, mutual coupling, optimization methods, particle swarm optimization, antenna measurement.

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This paper describes the application of the Firefly Algorithm for the optimization of linear and planar antenna arrays. In order to demonstrate the potential of this technique, three applications are reported. The first one is the synthesis of a radiation pattern with isoflux distribution with a non-uniformly spaced linear array composed of isotropic antennas. The second application is the optimization of a non-uniformly spaced planar array composed of isotropic radiators installed on an 8-U nanosatellite. Finally, the optimization of a 3×3 planar antenna array for beam steering with simultaneous side lobe level control is described, whereby the beamforming coefficients were allowed to assume only discrete values. In the three cases considered, good agreement between the desired (mask) and the optimized patterns has been obtained.