Miniaturized Ultra-Broadband Antenna Design by the Shape and Topology Optimization

With the fast paced development of mobile communications, the demand for smaller antennas has risen dramatically. Conventionally, emphasis has been on size and shape optimization rather than material optimization. However, by using the conventional optimization methods, size reduction and bandwidth increase are difficult to reach simultaneously due to the low dielectric constants of available materials. For ceramics with high dielectric constants, bandwidth and gain reductions will still be inevitable if the substrates are not topologically optimized. In this phase I project we will focus on both shape and material optimizations. Finite-Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method will be incorporated with Genetic Algorithm (GA) to realize optimizations. FDTD is a time domain method, thus it is very suitable for the design of broadband systems. Combined with Message-Passing Interface (MPI) technique, the FDTD method can be easily parallelized, which will reduce CPU time dramatically and make the design process much more practical. We will also include double negative (DNG) materials in the optimization. Better gain and bandwidth properties can be expected with the inclusion of such new materials.