Wideband Yagi-Uda Antenna Design Using Adaptive Differential Evolution Algorithm

A series of control parameter researches of differential evolution algorithm (DE) and adaptive DE (ADE) for a wideband six-element Yagi-Uda antenna optimization is presented. A method of moments code (NEC) was used to evaluate each of the antenna designs generated by ADE and DE. The optimized Yagi-Uda antenna is fabricated and measured to validate the efficiency and the flexibility of the parameter analysis. The simulated and measured impedance bandwidth of VSWR < 1.5 achieves 14.0%, which trebles the bandwidth of the Yagi-Uda antenna with a driven dipole element. The measured maximum antenna gain across the operating frequency band reaches 12.75 dB. Measured results of the fabricated antenna prototype is in good agreement with simulated results. Numerical and measured results confirm that the proposed ADE method is superior to or at least competitive with the conventional DE in terms of convergence speed and solution quality.