Phase Centre Optimization in Profiled Corrugated Circular Horns with Parallel Genetic Algorithms

Achieving a high stability of the phase centre position in horn antennas with respect to frequency is a very desirable aim in reflector antenna design; a highly stable phase centre reduces efficiency dropping for defocusing at the frequency band extremes. By using an appropriate profile for the horn antenna it is possible to obtain horns both compact and with a stable phase centre. In this paper an automatic design procedure, based on Genetic Algorithms, to obtain such horns is described. The algorithm operates on many horn profile parameters, including corrugations, and is based on an accurate fullwave mode matching/combined field integral equation analysis code. To keep computing time down a full parallel algorithm over a 12 CPU parallel virtual machine is described.