Actuator Grouping Optimization Method of Antenna Reflector Based-on Ant Colony Algorithm

AbstractThis paper aims to propose an actuator grouping optimization method for active shape control of an antenna reflector. An influence coefficient matrix (ICM) model of the reflector system is firstly derived using the finite element method. Then, the out-of-plane displacements caused by a determined supply voltage are given using ICM and actuator grouping matrix. A hybrid optimization method is proposed to obtain the optimal actuator group and power supply voltage, to significantly improve the shape control performance. The main feature of this method is to use the ant colony algorithm and least square method to optimize actuator grouping and power supply voltage step by step. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method is easy to fall into a local optimum, however, the shape precision using two power supplies can still be improved by more than 97%. It significantly reduces the scale and cost of the control system and demonstrates the proposed effectiveness. The computation time is shortened greatly thanks to the fast convergence rate, which has an obvious advantage in solving the optimization problem.KeywordsAntenna reflectorActive shape controlGrouping optimizationAnt colony algorithmLeast-squares method