Abstract

This thesis proposes a method for determining the optimal antenna element radiation characteristics which maximize diversity gain given a specific power angular spectrum of the propagation environment. The method numerically constructs the eigenfunctions of the covariance operator for the scenario subject to constraints on the power radiated by each antenna as well as the level of supergain allowed in the solution. The optimal antenna characteristics are produced in terms of radiating current distributions along with their resulting radiation patterns. The results reveal that the optimal antennas can provide significantly more diversity gain than that provided by a simple practical design. Computational examples illustrate the effectiveness of adding additional elements to the optimal array and the relationship between aperture size or the description of the impinging field and the array performance. A synthesis procedure is proposed which uses genetic algorithm optimization to optimally place a reduced number of dipoles. The results from this procedure demonstrate that using the framework in conjunction with optimization strategies can lead to practical designs which perform well relative to the upper performance bound. Finally a novel array architecture is proposed where subsets of antennas are combined together into super-elements which are then combined in the same manner as the optimal array. The simplifications that result from the genetically optimized small array or the super-element array provide a design options which are feasible in many communication applications.

Degree

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Electrical and Computer Engineering

Rights

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