SBIR Phase I: A Search Engine for Antenna Design

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to demonstrate feasibility of a software tool employing advanced search algorithms applied to antenna design and optimization. Current methods of designing and optimizing antennas by hand are time and labor intensive, address limited complexity, and require significant expertise. Genetic algorithm (GA) optimization has been shown to find effective antenna design solutions that would not ordinarily be found through engineering intuition. If the current effort is successful, the core of a new software tool to demonstrate the feasibility of a highly-automated design approach, where useful antennas can be generated without requiring significant guidance: the user simply enters design requirements (e.g., RF performance, dimensions, cost), and an automated optimization produces one or more compliant designs will be demonstrated. This approach promises to improve the performance and economics of future antenna applications for many industry and government customers.