Optimization of Patch Antenna Array Mounted on a Cylinder for Launch Vehicle Applications

High gain and omnidirectional coverage are the challenging requirement for launch vehicle antenna design. Generally cylindrical array configuration is considered for omnidirectional coverage. This can give 3600 coverage in the azimuth direction. The Number of elements and their position has to be optimized based on cylinder radius for ripple free radiation pattern in the azimuth plane. This paper presents the optimization of cylindrical array using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique. Analysis of patch array resonating at 2.26GHz mounted on cylinders of 300mm and 2m diameter for omnidirectional radiation pattern is carried out using in-house developed matlab program and the results are compared with the simulation results of HFSS software.