Thin‐wire antenna design for GPR applications using a multi‐objective GA

Abstract

A Pareto multi‐objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) has been applied to the design of non‐dispersive, ultra‐wideband (UWB), resistively loaded, thin‐wire antennas for ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) applications. The radiation characteristics of the antennas are optimized, seeking to maximize the bandwidth and the front‐to‐back ratio. The variables in the design are the value and position of the resistive loads located along the antenna wires, the number of wires and the angular distances between those wires. The radiation characteristics of the optimized antennas are explored and an example of an application to detect cracks in marble blocks is presented.

Multiobjective-Optimized Design of a New UWB Antenna for UWB Applications

“…The result was an antenna with a very high impedance bandwidth 2 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation but a low gain. In an effort to increase the directivity of the antenna, a new thin-wire design was proposed in [12], where the front-to-back ratio and the broadband behavior of the input impedance were simultaneously optimized by means of a multiobjective GA. Improved directivity was achieved by bending the two arms of the antenna in a horn-like way, while the broadband impedance characteristics were accomplished by discrete resistive loading of the antenna wires.…”

“…This approach goes beyond simply seeking an antenna with high impedance bandwidth, as in the case described in [11]. Moreover, the possibility of using different load profiles on the different strips that compose the antenna geometry is allowed, so that it is possible to find better designs than in [11,12], where the same load profile was used in all the antenna wires. The only condition imposed on the load profile is to have quadrangular symmetry.…”