Wire antennas optimized in the presence of satellite structures using genetic algorithms

Omnidirectional and moderate-gain antennas have been used on spacecraft to facilitate tasks such as command and control. Though they may have excellent gain patterns on the test range, their patterns may not be ideal when they are placed in the presence of the other metal structures on the satellite. Due to interactions with these structures, the antenna patterns may develop nulls and other distortions that render their performance unacceptable. These problems are not necessarily possible to fix with conventional antennas, even with automated optimization techniques like the genetic algorithm (GA). However, the genetic antenna, an antenna with no predefined theory of operation but one that is "invented" by a GA, is shown in this research to be capable of accounting for these surrounding structures. These non-intuitive antennas intentionally couple into surrounding structures to achieve patterns nearly as good as, and in some cases better than, antennas optimized without them.