Hybrid Differential Evolution with Biogeography

Based Optimization for Yagi-Uda Antenna Design

Urvinder Singh, Dilpal Singh, Chandandeep Kaur
Department of Electronics and Communication Engg., Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Punjab

AbstractThis paper presents a hybrid optimization technique

combining Differential Evolution with Biogeography Based Optimization (DE/BBO) to design Yagi-Uda antenna. Differential
Evolution (DE) is an optimization technique which has been used
successfully as a tool for solving global optimization problems.
DE uses its mutation operator to explore the search space for
better solutions. Biogeography Based Optimization (BBO) is a
recently introduced technique which is based on natures way of
distributing organisms over space and time. In BBO, candidate
solutions share features with migration operator for exploitation
of search space. DE/BBO technique employs hybrid migration
operator which combines the advantages of both DE and BBO
to improve the quality of solutions. Yagi-Uda antenna is a widely
used yet extremely hard to optimize antenna design. This can be
attributed to non-linear and multimodal nature of gain function
of Yagi-Uda antenna. In this paper, DE/BBO algorithm is applied
to optimize six element Yagi-Uda antenna for gain, impedance
and Front to Back Ratio (FBR). Results show the effectiveness
of DE/BBO technique in designing Yagi-Uda antenna.
Index TermsBiogeography Based Optimization, Differential
Evolution, Yagi-Uda Antenna, Antenna Gain, Front to Back
Ratio.

I. I NTRODUCTION
Optimization is a problem solving process which is used
to find solutions that meet certain performance criteria. Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) have been widely used as a tool
for solving non-linear, non-differentiable real valued problems.
EAs are based on the principles of natural evolution and
survival of fittest, where fitter solutions are more likely to
reproduce than poor solutions. EAs have many advantages
over traditional gradient based methods. In gradient based
methods, quality of final solution depends upon the choice of
initial solution. If the initial guess is poor, gradient methods
will not be able to find optimum results. On the other hand,
EAs do not suffer from this problem. Hence considerable
efforts have been made in development of EAs in past time.
Yagi-Uda antenna is an extensively used antenna design due
to its simple construction, high gain and low cost. Optimizing
a Yagi-Uda antenna involves finding lengths and spacings
between elements that correspond to specific radiation properties. However, Yagi-Uda antenna is hard to optimize due to
multimodal nature of its gain function. There is no analytical
formula to calculate the gain of Yagi-Uda antenna. In addition,
the radiation properties of Yagi-Uda antenna are conflictive
in nature. For example, if impedance of Yagi-Uda antenna
is optimized to be 50, its gain tends to decrease. Various
optimization techniques have been applied to design the YagiUda antenna for single and multiple objectives using gradient

methods [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], and EAs [8], [9], [10],
[11], [12], [13]. Jones et al. in [8] have used Genetic Algorithm
(GA) to optimize Yagi-Uda antenna for various radiation
characteristics and compared the result with steepest gradient
method. Baskar et al. in [14] have used Comprehensive
Learning Particle Swarm Optimization (CLPSO) to optimize
Yagi-Uda antenna and obtained better results than GA. In
[9], Li has optimized Yagi-Uda antenna using Differential
Evolution (DE) and illustrated the capabilities of the proposed
method with several Yagi-Uda antenna designs. In [15], Singh
et al. have explored another stochastic global search and
optimization technique known as Simulated Annealing (SA)
for the optimization of Yagi-Uda antenna. In [10], Li has used
Bi-Swarm optimization technique and compared the results
with Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm optimization
(PSO) and Computer Intelligence (CI). Amaral et al. have
presented Ellipsoid algorithm for optimization of Yagi-Uda
antenna [16]. Li et al. in [17] have used Invasive Weed
Optimization (IWO) technique to optimize a six element YagiUda antenna for maximum directivity.
In 1995, Storn and Price introduced a simple yet powerful
global optimization technique known as Differential Evolution
(DE). In DE, difference of two randomly selected individuals
is used a source for variation in third randomly selected individual. DE was applied on a extensive testbed of benchmark
functions and it was shown that DE converges faster than
simulated annealing and Nelder & Mead optimization methods
[18]. Biogeography Based Optimization (BBO) is a relatively
new optimization technique introduced by Simon in 2008.
BBO is based on science of biogeography which is the study
of distribution of animal and plant species over space and time.
BBO was applied on several benchmark functions and sensor
selection problem. The results were compared with several
other EAs which show the optimization capability of BBO
[19].
Hybridization of optimization techniques is gaining more
attention in recent times due to offered advantages. It involves
combining the strengths of participating optimization techniques to form a new hybrid technique for better performance.
DE has excellent exploration capability but poor exploitation
capability [20]. Due to this, DE moves very fast towards
optimum solution in initial stage of optimization however later
slows down due to poor exploitation capability. BBO, on the
other hand, has excellent exploitation capability. To combine
the advantages of these two optimization techniques, Gong et
al. have developed a new hybrid technique known as DE/BBO.

It uses the mutation operator of DE with the migration operator

of BBO. They have applied proposed technique on several
benchmark functions and showed the efficiency of DE/BBO
[21].
In this paper, DE/BBO is applied to optimize six-wire
Yagi-Uda antenna for three objectives, i.e., gain, impedance
and Front to Back Ratio (FBR) simultaneously. Numerical
Electromagnetic Code 2 (NEC2) tool [22], which is based on
method of moments, is used for evaluating antenna designs.
Obtained results are compared with other optimization techniques available in literature.
After this brief introduction, rest of paper is organized as
follows: Section II discusses the Yagi-Uda antenna in brief.
Section III is dedicated to Differential Evolution. Section IV
gives a brief description of BBO. Hybrid optimization technique DE/BBO is described in Section V. In Section VI,
simulation results are presented. Finally conclusions have been
drawn in Section VII.
II. YAGI -U DA A NTENNA
Yagi-Uda antenna was invented in 1926 by H. Yagi and S.
Uda at Tohoku University [23] in Japan, however, published
in English in 1928 [24]. Yagi-Uda antenna has three types of
elements: (1) Reflector (2) Driven Element and (3) Directors.
Reflector is longest of all elements and blocks radiations
in one direction. The signal to be transmitted is applied to
driven element. It is typically a half dipole or folded dipole.
The length of driven element is slightly shorter than reflector
element but longer than directors. Directors are usually more
than one in number and are responsible for unidirectional
radiations. Normally, there is no limit on number of directors,
however, as the number of directors are increased beyond a
certain limit there is a reduction in the induced current in the
most extreme elements. Figure 1 presents a basic Yagi-Uda
antenna design where all elements are placed along y-axis and
parallel to x-axis. Middle segment of the reflector is placed at
origin and signal to be transmitted is fed to the middle segment
of the feeder element.

design of Yagi-Uda antenna. An antenna with N elements

requires 2N 1 parameters, i.e., N wire lengths and N 1
spacings, to be determined. These 2N 1 parameters, collectively, are represented as an integer vector given as (1).
H = [L1 , L2 , . . . , LN , S1 , S2 , . . . , SN 1 ]

(1)

where LN are the lengths and SN 1 are the spacings between

antenna elements.
In addition to high gain, Yagi-Uda antenna should also
have impedance equal to load line (generally 50) to avoid
formation of standing waves. High FBR is desirable so that
Yagi-Uda antenna concentrates most of its energy in forward
direction.
III. D IFFERENTIAL E VOLUTION
Differential Evolution is a population based EA which can
handle non-linear, non differentiable real world parameter optimization problems. In DE, the parent solutions are known as
parameter vectors. DE generates the new solutions, known as
trial vectors, with the help of DE mutation operator. DE forms
the new trial vectors by calculating the difference between two
randomly selected parameter vectors and adding the difference
to third random parameter vector. Then newly generated trial
vector is compared with a fourth different parameter vector. If
the fitness of trial vector is higher, it replaces the parameter
vector with which it was compared. There are several purposed
variants of DE, of which DE rand/1/bin scheme is discussed
and used here.
The pseudo code for DE rand/1/bin scheme is given in
Algorithm 1. Here N P is the number of parameter vectors or
size of population. D is the size of a parameter vector. Function randintj [1, D] produces uniformly distributed integers in
interval [1, D]. Function randrealj (0, 1) generates uniformly
distributed random real numbers in interval (0, 1). CR is
probabilty of crossover operator. F is scaling factor between
interval (0, 1). Vi is the generated trial vector. Pi is the parent
vector with which trial vector Vi is compared.

Feeder

Algorithm 1 Pseudo Code for DE rand/1/bin scheme

L1

L2

S1

Reflector

L3

S2

L4

S3

LN

....

SN-1

Directors

Figure 1: Basic Yagi-Uda Antenna Design

Element lengths and spacings between them are the variables/parameters which need to be determined for optimum

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:

Generate initial random population P

Find the fitness of each parameter vector in P
while the terminating criteria is not satisfied do
for i = 1 to N P do
Select uniform randomly r1 6= r2 6= r3 6= i
jrand = randintj [1, D]
for j = 1 to D do
if randrealj (0,1) < CR or j == jrand then
Vi (j) = Xr1 + F (Xr2 Xr3 )
else
Vi (j) = Xi (j)
end if
end for
end for

Algorithm 1 Pseudo Code for DE rand/1/bin scheme

15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:

for i =1 to N P do
if fitness Vi > fitness Pi then
Pi = V i
end if
end for
end while
IV. B IOGEOGRAPHY BASED O PTIMIZATION

BBO is an optimization technique which is inspired from

natures way to distribute organisms over space and time. In
BBO, each solution is modeled as a habitat. A habitat is
an ecological area inhabited by a particular plant or animal
species which is geographically isolated from other habitats.
Each habitat has measure of its habitability which is known as
its HSI value. Habitats which are good for living have high HSI
value. HSI is analogues to fitness in other EAs. Habitats having
high value of HSI i.e., good solutions, have high immigration
rate k and low emigration rate k . Immigration is the arrival
of new species into a habitat, while emigration is the process
of leaving ones native habitat. HSI of a habitat depends upon
various factors like rainfall, temperature. These factors are
known as Suitability Index Variables (SIVs).
For k-th habitat, values of immigration rate, k and emigration rate, k are given by (2) and (3).


k
(2)
k = I 1
n
 
k
k = E
(3)
n
Here I and E are maximum immigration and emigration rates.
n is total number of habitats.
Algorithm 2 Pseudo Code for Migration Operator
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:

for i = 1 to N P do
Select Xi with probability based on i
if Xi is selected then
for j = 1 to N P do
Select Xj with probability based on j
if Xj is selected then
Randomly select SIV(s) from Xj
Copy selected SIV(s) in Xi
end if
end for
end if
end for

While solving a global optimization problem with many

solutions, each candidate solution is known as a habitat in
BBO. Each habitat is represented by a D dimensional vector;
where D is the number of SIVs (features) to evolve for optimal
value of HSI. BBO consists of two probabilistic processes: (1)
Migration (2) Mutation. Migration is a probabilistic operator
that improves HSI of poor habitats by sharing information

from good habitats whereas mutation alters the value of

randomly selected SIVs. During migration, i-th habitat, Hi
(where i = 1, 2, . . . , N P ) use its immigration rate, i given
by (2), to probabilistically decide whether to immigrate or
not. In case the habitat is selected for immigration, then the
emigrating habitat, Hj , is found probabilistically based on
emigration rate, j given by (3). The process of migration
is then carried out by copying values of SIVs from Hj to Hi
randomly, i.e., Hi (SIV ) Hj (SIV ). The migration process
is depicted in Algorithm 2. As poor solutions accept a lot of
features from good solutions, BBO has excellent exploitation
ability.
V. D E / BBO A PPROACH
As stated in previous sections, DE has excellent exploration
capability and poor exploitation ability [20]. This can be
attributed to fact that the new SIVs are generated by mutation
operator of DE, which helps in locating the approximate
region of optimal solution. In BBO, migration operator copies
the values of SIVs between habitats. Due to this, solutions
are fine tuned slowly which leads to excellent exploitation
ability. However due to random mutation, BBO lacks the
exploration capability [25]. To balance the exploration and
exploitation ability of DE, Gong et al. have proposed a
hybrid approach known as DE/BBO. DE/BBO combines the
exploration capability of DE with exploitation ability of BBO.
DE/BBO technique is given as follows.
A. Hybrid Migration Operator
DE/BBO incorporates the mutation operator of DE with the
migration operator of BBO to form a hybrid migration operator
given in Algorithm 3. It can be seen from Algorithm 3 that
offsprings Vi , i.e., solutions obtained from hybrid migration
operator of DE/BBO, comprises of three components: features
or SIVs from DE mutation operator, BBO migration operator
and parent vector Xi itself. Main idea behind hybrid migration
is that good solutions will be less destroyed and poor solutions
Algorithm 3 Hybrid Migration Operator of DE/BBO
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:

for i = 1 to N P do
Select uniform randomly r1 6= r2 6= r3 6= i
jrand = randintj (1, D)
for j = 1 to D do
if randrealj (0, 1) < i then
if jrand (0,1) < CR or j == jrand then
Vi (j) = Xr1 + F (Xr2 Xr3 )
else
Select Xk based on the probability k
Vi (j) = Xk (j)
end if
else
Vi (j) = Xi (j)
end if
end for
end for

can accept a lot of features from good solutions which will

lead to good exploitation capability. In addition, DE mutation
operator will be able to explore search spaces for new solutions
effectively. In next subsection, main procedure of DE/BBO
algorithm is given.

(FBR). The objective function for the optimization process is:

V (x) = aG(x) b|50 Re(Z(x))| c|Im(Z(x))| + d F BR(x)
(4)

In equation 4, the weighing coefficients have values a = 30,

b = 3, c = 3, d = 0.85. The objective function rewards
antenna design for high gain, large FBR. It also penalizes
antenna design for not having real part of impedance equal
to 50 and imaginary part equal to zero. MATLAB environment was used to develop optimization algorithm. To obtain
a fair analysis, antenna was optimized for 20 monte carlo
simulations. Universe of Discourse (UODs) or search space
for element lengths and element spacings were taken 0.300.70 and 0.10-0.45 respectively. Cross section radius of
elements was set to 0.003369 at 300 MHz. For DE/BBO,
following values of parameters were used.
1) Size of population, N P = 50
2) Number of iterations = 200
3) Crossover probability, CR = 0.9
4) Scaling factor, F = 0.5
5) Maximum migration rates, E and I = 1
6) Number of function evaluations = 10, 000
Results obtained by DE/BBO algorithm are given in Table I.
Design given by DE/BBO has the highest gain and perfect
impedance matching which none of the optimization techniques listed in literature were able to achieve. Although FBR
has suffered a bit, still FBR value greater than 10 dB is
sufficient for most of practical applications. These results show
the robustness of DE/BBO in optimizing Yagi-Uda antenna.

B. DE/BBO Algorithm
DE/BBO algorithm embeds the hybrid migration operator
described in Algorithm 3. The structure of this algorithm is
very simple and almost same to original DE algorithm with
small changes due to migration operator of BBO. Complete
DE/BBO procedure is given in Algorithm 4.
Algorithm 4 DE/BBO Algorithm
1:
2:
3:
4:

5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:

Generate initial random population P

Find the fitness of each parameter vector in P
while the terminating criteria is not satisfied do
Calculate the immigration rate and emigration rate
for each individual depending upon their species
count probability
Modify the population with hybrid migration operator
described in Algorithm 3
for i =1 to N P do
if fitness Vi > fitness Pi then
Pi = V i
end if
end for
end while

VII. C ONCLUSIONS AND F UTURE S COPE

VI. S IMULATION R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSIONS

In this paper, DE/BBO technique is applied to optimize

Yagi-Uda antenna for gain, impedance and FBR simultaneously. DE/BBO combines the advantages of DE and BBO

Six element Yagi-Uda antenna is designed for the multiple

objectives, i.e, gain, input impedance and Front to Back Ratio

TABLE I
R ESULTS OF G AIN , I MPEDANCE AND F BR O PTIMIZED S IX -E LEMENT YAGI -U DA A NTENNA D ESIGNS

GA[8]

RBMGA[13]

SA[15]

DE/BBO

Element

Length

Spacing

Length

Spacing

Length

Spacing

Length

Spacing

1()

0.478

0.508

0.4764

0.4788

2()

0.450

0.182

0.488

0.245

0.4492

0.3033

0.4408

0.1915

3()

0.448

0.152

0.438

0.149

0.4266

0.3809

0.4396

0.1056

4()

0.434

0.229

0.404

0.283

0.4294

0.2936

0.4330

0.2381

5()

0.422

0.435

0.432

0.384

0.4164

0.4036

0.4248

0.3868

6()

0.440

0.272

0.420

0.244

0.4266

0.3368

0.4308

0.3253

Gain (dBi)

12.57

11.6

12.24

12.71

Z ()

49.64 + j5.08

49.27 + j32.53

47.48 + j1.97

50 + j0.0

FBR (dB)

10.40

17.57

43.1

11.14

with negligible addition to computational cost. In addition,

DE is known for its simplicity. DE/BBO algorithm retains
this advantage while removing the weaknesses of DE. Results
obtained show the effectiveness of DE/BBO while dealing
with problems having multiple local minima and maxima
as in Yagi-Uda antenna. DE/BBO can be also applied to
optimize different antenna types other than Yagi-Uda antenna.
In addition, different migration schemes of BBO and mutation
schemes of DE can be experimented for further improvements
in DE/BBO performance.
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