Design, optimization, and verification of an antenna array for the 60 GHz Hybrid Smart Antenna System

In, a Hybrid Smart Antenna System that enables low-cost adaptive beamforming for the 60 GHz applications is presented. This algorithm relies on the use of highly directive antennas with their beams oriented towards different directions to lower the number of elements used for beamforming, and to achieve uniform coverage in the desired range, hence resulting in a significantly lower cost. In, a genetic algorithm (GA) based framework to optimize the look angles of the array elements is proposed to minimize the fluctuations in the overall array gain, hence the array output power, due to the changes in the transmitter direction. In this earlier study, however, the authors used a fictitious antenna radiation pattern to demonstrate a proof for the proposed concept. In this paper, we describe the design of a 60 GHz patch antenna, and discuss the optimization of the array geometry according to the patch's radiation pattern. The performance of the optimized array is simulated using the Hybrid Smart Antenna Algorithm and the obtained results are compared with the GA predictions. Good match is obtained between the performance values predicted by the optimization tool and those obtained with the computer simulations and efforts towards the experimental verification of this approach are also discussed.