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A binary firefly algorithm inspired by the behavior of artificial fireflies has been applied to thin a planar concentric ring array antenna to minimize the peak sidelobe level in a number of predefined i¾?-planes. Two different cases comprising two different design specifications for the optimized thinned array have been considered. In the first case, the array is thinned to reduce the peak sidelobe level while keeping the first null beamwidth and half power beamwidth of the array below their specified values in all the defined i¾?-planes. In the second case, peak sidelobe level of the array is reduced regardless of any pre-specified values of first null beamwidth and half power beamwidth. To illustrate the superiority of binary firefly algorithm, the thinning of the array for the two different cases has been compared with binary particle swarm optimization algorithm. Results clearly show the superiority of binary firefly algorithm in finding optimum solutions for both cases. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

SUMMARY A pattern synthesis method based on Firefly Algorithm (FA) and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) optimization has been presented to generate satellite footprint patterns from a rectangular planar array of isotropic antennas by modifying the amplitude, phase, and the state of the array elements. Three cases comprising three different footprints of rectangular, square, and circular boundary are generated from the same array by using two different swarm-based optimization algorithms FA and ABC. Both the algorithms, following the proposed procedures are able to generate the three different footprint patterns while maintaining a satisfactory lower peak side lobe level and ripple. A comparative analysis has been carried out between FA, ABC, and Genetic Algorithm (GA) for the presented problem in terms of fitness value for the three different cases. The superiority of FA and ABC over GA has been established in terms of finding better solutions for all the three cases of the proposed problem. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.