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A topology optimization method for design of small GPR antennas

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Abstract

This paper proposes a design method for miniaturized planar bow-tie antennas typically used in Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) based on topology optimization. To reduce the center operating frequency of the miniaturized antenna, a design strategy is given to determine a reasonable distribution of conductive material within a given domain. The skin-depth issue in the FEM-model is avoided by using the method of moments (MOM) and the degree of freedom is reduced by not discretizing the free-space box domain which can greatly improve the computational efficiency. Additionally, a novel method is proposed to model a non-conductive material by imposing infinite impedance through an exponential material interpolation function. Based on a series of numerical results, three technical problems in the electromagnetic structural topology optimization technique are identified, and a volume-preserving Heaviside density filter is introduced to guide the optimal result tending to a 0-1 differentiation. Numerical examples show that the proposed optimization method can reduce the center operating frequency of the antenna significantly, thus the effectiveness of our optimization method is verified.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2011CB610304), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11172052) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. These financial supports are gratefully acknowledged. The authors are grateful to Professor Liyong Tong of the University of Sydney for his kind help with the language and writing style of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Shutian Liu, Qi Wang & Renjing Gao

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  1. Shutian Liu
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  2. Qi Wang
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  3. Renjing Gao
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Correspondence to Shutian Liu.

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Liu, S., Wang, Q. & Gao, R. A topology optimization method for design of small GPR antennas. Struct Multidisc Optim 50, 1165–1174 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-014-1106-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-014-1106-y

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