Genetic design of dual-band, switched-beam dipole arrays, with elements failure correction, retaining constant excitation coefficients

Switched-beam dipole arrays (SBAs) are widely used in order to increase system performance in wireless communications. They represent an attractive alternative to fully adaptive arrays, due to lower deployment and maintenance costs. Dual-band operation and elements failure correction are dealt with in this paper, since they are considered to be key characteristics in modern systems, like WiFi/WiMAX, and remote base stations maintenance respectively. The focus of the presented work is on the preservation of constant excitation coefficients during dual-band operation (coefficients will change after a possible elements failure), but the possibility of retaining universal, constant excitations, even after element failures, is also examined (the term universal means that excitations are kept constant, regardless of element failure or frequency of operation). This is accomplished using a genetic algorithm (GA), and numerical results are presented which demonstrate the eligibility of the proposed technique.