Synthesis of Thinned Planar Arrays with Accurate Mutual Coupling Modeling

The synthesis of thinned planar arrays of real radiating elements for 5G communications systems is addressed. A nature-inspired optimization strategy based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is employed for defining the simplified array architecture in order to reduce the number of transmit/receive modules and radio-frequency (RF) chains with respect to a fully-populated array architecture. For each iteration of the GA-based optimization process, the array pattern is efficiently calculated by considering a limited set of representative embedded element patterns which allow taking into account the mutual coupling phenomena and to obtain an accurate prediction of the real radiation performance. A representative numerical example is reported to validate the proposed approach.