16, 2017
Abstract—This letter proposes an adaptive Bat algorithm (BA)- arrays but not for small arrays [3]. The complex weights method
based beamformer for pattern nulling of half-wave dipole uni- has been considered the most flexible and efficient, but the most
formly spaced linear array (DULA), of which the imposed nulls complicated and expensive, since each array element must have
have been placed at directions of interferences. This pattern nulling controllers, phase shifters and attenuators [4]. The position-only
is obtained by controlling only the phase of each array element. In
method [5] requires a mechanical driving system such as ser-
order to verify the proposal, several scenarios of DULA pattern
with the preset nulls have been performed and compared with
vomotors to adjust the array element position, which makes the
those of genetic algorithm (GA) and accelerated particle swarm system more complicated, and accuracy control more difficult.
optimization (APSO) considering mutual coupling. The proposed The amplitude-only control [6] is a simple method as it only
beamformer has shown the ability to suppress sidelobes, to main- changes the amplitude excited at each element. Specifically, in
tain predefined beamwidth, to place precisely single, multiple, and the case of even number of elements, symmetrical at the center of
broad nulls at an arbitrary direction of interferences. Further- the array, the number of attenuators and the computational time
more, the beamformer is much faster and more effective in terms will be reduced by a half. Applying this control method, in our
of null-steering and sidelobe suppression in pattern synthesis than previous work [7], BA-based beamformer for adaptive steering
GA and APSO based ones. nulls of ULA antennas pattern has been proposed and imple-
Index Terms—Array pattern synthesis, Bat algorithm (BA), mented successfully. However, [6], [7] have a disadvantage that
beamformer, interference suppression, null-steering, uniformly the nulling points have been simultaneously and symmetrically
spaced linear array (ULA). placed at both sides of the main beam. Phase-only pattern nulling
is less complicated, and more attractive for phased arrays, since
the required controls are available at no extra cost. Besides, it is
I. INTRODUCTION easy to control the main beam direction by adjusting the phase
DAPTIVE beamformers are widely applied in radar, weights [8], [9].
A sonar, and communication systems to enhance the perfor-
mance by increasing the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization,
Recently, optimization techniques have been commonly ap-
plied in beamforming for antenna array pattern synthesis includ-
interference suppression, and power saving. Beamformers are ing null-steering. The classical optimization techniques used for
able to produce appropriate weights for array antennas to obtain the array pattern synthesis are likely to be stuck in local minima
the required pattern [1]. if the initial guesses are not reasonably close to the final solu-
Today, the prevalence of wireless devices causing serious pol- tion. Most of the classical optimization techniques and analyti-
lution in the electromagnetic propagation environment, smart cal approaches suffer from a lack of flexible solutions to a given
antennas with null-steering capabilities emerge as a promising antenna pattern synthesis problem. To overcome this, various
solution for suppressing interferences in wireless communica- evolutionary optimization algorithms based on computational
tions, and radar applications. intelligence approaches have been developed. For instance, ge-
Some nulling methods, such as controlling the amplitude- netic algorithm (GA), ant colony optimization, particle swarm
only, the phase-only, the position-only, the complex weights optimization (PSO), differential evolution, and clonal selection
(both the amplitude and the phase), and array thinning, which have been proved to be better and more flexible than the classi-
have their own advantages and limitations, have been widely cal techniques [4]–[8], [10]–[12]. These techniques have been
studied and implemented [1], [2]. proposed and implemented with their own benefits and limita-
Among those, array thinning does not require digital beam- tions in the array pattern synthesis. For array pattern synthesis,
forming. It takes advantages of adaptive algorithm to make ar- GA and PSO have been widely implemented [2], [10]–[12].
ray element active or inactive. It is able to apply well for large BA is an evolutionary computation technique based on the
Bat behavior of using echolocation to detect prey, avoid obsta-
cles, and locate their roosting crevices in the dark. It has been
Manuscript received July 27, 2017; accepted September 28, 2017. Date of successfully used to solve various kinds of engineering prob-
publication October 5, 2017; date of current version November 8, 2017. This lems [13], [14]. BA has been proved to be better than PSO and
work was supported in part by Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam,
under Project QG. 16.27. (Corresponding author: Truong Vu Bang Giang.)
GA optimization in terms of convergence, robustness, and pre-
T. Vu Bang Giang is with the Vietnam National University, Hanoi 10000, cision [13]. This algorithm has been applied for the first time for
Vietnam (e-mail: giangtvb@vnu.edu.vn). beamforming in [15]. Yao and Lu [15] showed that the BA is a
T. Van Luyen is with the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Hanoi University promising optimization tool for adaptive beamforming regard-
of Industry, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam (e-mail: luyen.tv@ haui.edu.vn). ing computation time. Still, this letter was just in preliminary
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this letter are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. phase, and thus, it lacked adequate analysis on the application
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2017.2759318 of BA in beamforming.
1536-1225 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
VAN LUYEN AND VU BANG GIANG: INTERFERENCE SUPPRESSION OF ULA ANTENNAS BY PHASE-ONLY CONTROL 3039
Fig. 1. Flowchart of the proposed beamformer. Fig. 4. Optimized pattern with three nulls at −48°, 20°, and 40°.
−24.48 dB. The null depth level (NDL) at 14° is −87.15 dB.
Fig. 3 indicates that the single null-pattern optimized by the BA
is better than that of the APSO and GA in terms of NDL at the
desired null point.
C. Multiple Nulls
In scenario 3, the proposal will be used to separately set
multiple nulls at −48°, 20°, and 40°, corresponding to the peaks
of three sidelobes next to the main beam of the Chebyshev array
pattern. As shown in Fig. 4, the patterns with multiple nulls at
predefined locations have been obtained. All NDLs are deeper
Fig. 5. Optimized pattern with a broad null from 30° to 40°.
than −73 dB, all SLLs are lower than −24 dB, and HPBW
roughly equals to that of the Chebysev pattern. The BA pattern
shows advantages over the APSO and GA ones in terms of NDL.
D. Broad Null
In interference suppression applications, if the DOAs of in-
terferences vary slightly with time or cannot be known exactly,
or a null is continuously steered to obtain an appropriate signal-
to-noise ratio, a broad null is required. So to show the capability
of broad interference suppression, in scenario 4, the pattern with
an imposed broad null at the target sector of [30°, 40°] has been
obtained and illustrated in Fig. 5. A broad null (minimum NDL
Fig. 6. Optimized pattern (nulls: −48°, 20°, 40°) with mutual coupling. < −52 dB) on the BA patterns at that target sector has been ob-
tained. The beamwidth is nearly unchanged and the maximum
SLL is −20.69 dB. The results show that the BA pattern is better
TABLE I than APSO and GA ones in terms of NDL.
NDL AND MAXIMUM SLL OF THE PATTERNS SHOWN IN FIGS. 3–6
Fig. Parameters GA (dB) PSO (dB) BA (dB) E. Patterns with Mutual Coupling
Ideal Ideal Ideal MC (IV.E) Scenario 5 has been carried out to investigate the ability of the
3 NDL at 14° −66.43 −71.55 −87.15 −66.00
proposal in the presence of mutual coupling. This mutual cou-
Maximum SLL −24.93 −24.53 −24.48 −24.52 pling effect has been modeled based on the mutual impedance
4 NDL at: −48° −56.59 −63.26 −73.24 −49.73 matrix in (4). To do that, the proposed beamformer has been
20° −56.07 −62.29 −73.48 −54.17 applied for pattern nulling with single null, multiple nulls, and
40° −56.60 −60.68 −74.68 −51.63 broad null similarly to as was done in Sections IV-B, IV-C, and
Maximum SLL −24.23 −24.04 −24.35 −25.51
5 Maximum NDL −56.20 −62.51 −69.06 −51.55 IV-D. For detailed demonstration, the simulation results in the
Minimum NDL −48.40 −47.56 −52.00 −40.01 case of multiple nulls have been presented in Fig. 6, while the
Maximum SLL −23.48 −24.00 −20.69 −20.64 others have been shown in Table I. It is seen that null points
have been exactly placed at predefined locations but with lower
NDLs.
The NDL and maximum SLL of the patterns of all scenarios
B. Single Null have been summarized in Table I for more detailed reference of
In scenario 2, the optimized pattern with a single null has been data in Figs. 3–6.
demonstrated. This null can be arbitrarily set at any angle, which
is chosen at the peak of the second sidelobe (14°) in this test case.
The population has been initialized as Chebyshev array weights V. CONCLUSION
with −30 dB SLL. In [2], Haupt found that the phase had more In this letter, a BA-based beamformer has been proposed
effect on the main beam than the amplitude; and adaptive nulling for DULA antennas pattern nulling to suppress interferences.
with little perturbation of phase would not result in significant The pattern nulling capability of the proposal has been veri-
degradation to the main beam. Moreover, the smaller range of fied by five scenarios including operation speed, pattern nulling
variable phase weight is, the faster convergence can be obtained. with single, multiple, and broad nulls. The results show that the
Thus, in the simulation process for all investigated scenarios of above-mentioned nulls can be precisely imposed to arbitrary in-
pattern nulling, variable phase weights have been limited in the terference directions using our proposed beamformer while the
range of −0.5–0.5 rad. Fig. 3 presents optimized patterns with pattern maintains the HPBW and low SLL in both cases as with
single null obtained by BA, APSO, and GA. The BA pattern or without mutual coupling. Furthermore, compared with APSO
preserves almost all characteristics of the initial Chebyshev pat- and GA, our proposal is more efficient in terms of computation
tern such as half-power beamwidth (HPBW = 7.64◦ ) and SLL time, adaptive null-steering, and sidelobe suppression in array
(−30 dB) except for a few sidelobes with maximum SLL of pattern nulling synthesis.
3042 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 16, 2017