An Effective Antenna Array Diagnosis Method via Multivalued Neural Network Inverse Modeling Approach

Abstract

Failure of element (s) in antenna arrays impair (s) symmetry and lead to unwanted distorted radiation pattern. The replacement of defective elements in aircraft antennas is a solution to the problem, but it remains a critical problem in space stations. In this paper, an antenna array diagnosis technique based on multivalued neural network (mNN) inverse modeling is proposed. Since inverse analytical input-to-output formulation is generally a challenging and important task in solving the inverse problem of array diagnosis, ANN is a compelling alternative, because it is trainable and learns from data in inverse modelling. The mNN technique proposed is an inverse modelling technique, which accommodates measurements for output model. This network takes radiation pattern samples with faults and matches it to the corresponding position or location of the faulty elements in that antenna array. In addition, we develop a new training error function, which focuses on the matching of each training sample by a value of our proposed inverse model, while the remaining values are free, and trained to match distorted radiation patterns. Thereby, mNN learns all training data by redirecting the faulty elements patterns into various values of the inverse model. Therefore, mNN is able to perform accurate array diagnosis in an automated and simpler manner.

Antenna Array Fault Diagnosis in the Presence of Mutual Coupling Using Excitations Optimization Technique: A Case Study of Rectangular Waveguide Array

“…This section demonstrates and verifies the effectiveness of the proposed diagnosis method. 100 elements constitute of WR90 open-ended waveguide array working at 27 GHz as depicted in Figure 1 [5]. The radiation characteristic at no fault at ϕ = 0 • is given in Figure 2.…”

“…For instance, a large number of elements are employed in massive MIMO (multiple input multiple output), full MIMO systems, and telecommunication devices that employ sophisticated arrays. Hence, the demand for a reliable antenna array diagnosis is an inevitable task to rectify the distorted radiation characteristics because of element(s) failure [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In addition, fault diagnosis is important in 5G wireless systems, where a very large number of elements are needed to satisfy the required reconfigurability and high radiation behaviour [2].…”

Identification of Faulty Antenna in Large FM Antenna System Using Quadcopter Measurements

“…A study using equivalent current technique is presented in [7]. Some other studies utilizing multivalued NN, compressed sensing, annealing optimization, Music algorithms or Lebesque-space approach are presented in [8]- [13]. The mentioned studies are well thought out, can identify a faulty element in an antenna array with a high number of elements, in some cases more than 100 elements in one array and offer practical solution for many applications.…”