A Linear Antenna Array Failure Correction with Null Steering using Firefly Algorithm

The element failure of digital beam forming array antenna systems used in defence equipment increases the side lobe power level which distorts the beam pattern of the antenna array. The problem of array failure correction becomes more complex when null steering conditions are required to be added. In this paper, the problem of linear antenna array failure has been addressed with multiple wide band null steering using firefly algorithm (FA) by controlling the amplitude and phase excitation of array elements. A fitness function in the form of template has been formulated to obtain the error between original (pre-failed) side lobe pattern and measured side lobe pattern and this error function has been minimized using FA. Numerical example of element failure correction of element failure of array along with multiple nulls is presented to show the capability of this flexible approach.