A Comparison of Faulty Antenna Detection Methodologies in Planar Array

Broadcasting, radar, sonar and space telecommunication systems use phased arrays to produce directed signals to be transmitted at the desired angle. This system requires a large number of antenna elements. The presence of faulty element(s) in an array causes asymmetry, which results in a deformed radiation pattern with higher sidelobe levels. Higher sidelobe levels indicate waste of energy by transmitting and receiving signals in unwanted directions. Hence, it is important to develop a method that detects faulty elements and corrects the radiation pattern. To correct the failed radiation pattern, failed elements in an array must be identified first. There have been various studies conducted on linear array failed radiation pattern correction and the finding of faulty elements, but investigation on the planar array is limited. Further, the optimization suggested for linear arrays does not necessarily work for the planar array. In this study, planar array faulty antenna detection was developed with pattern search (PS), simulated annealing (SA), and particle swarm optimization (PSO) methods by reducing the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) as the objective function. The analysis was varied for 8 × 8 and 6 × 6 planar arrays with different types of failures. The results were compared to find the best method to identify the faulty element’s location in a planar array. The pattern search method produced outstanding results in finding the faulty element’s locations by providing 100% accuracy for all types of failure, while other methods failed to do the same.