UAVs-based antenna arrays using time modulation

This paper applies time modulation to deal with the design of antenna arrays for UAVs formation flight using a rectangular micro-strip as antenna element in the frequency of 2.4 GHz. The motivation for this paper is to exploit the properties and advantages of time-modulated arrays in an interesting application: UAVs formation flight. This design considers the optimization of the position of the drones (or antenna elements) and the time switched sequences of the elements in a linear geometry. The design process to find the optimal positions of the drones for flight formation and the switch-on interval of each element is carried out by means of the methods of Particle Swarm Optimization and Invasive Weed Optimization. The main contribution to the field of this paper is a performance evaluation of the design problem for UAVs-based linear antenna arrays considering time modulation in terms of side lobe level (SLL) and sideband levels (SBLs). Simulation results are provided in terms of SLL, SBLs, switching time and positions of the drones. These simulation results illustrate that the time modulation could provide a SLL improvement with respect to previous results in literature.