Application of the Hybrid Algorithm Combining Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm with Microgenetic Algorithm to the Optimization of Multilayered

Radar Absorbing Coating

Kun Chao, Yunlin Liu and Rugui Yang
Electromagnetics Institute, Southwest Jiaotong University Chengdu 610031, China
Abstract- A new optimization technique based on the hybrid algorithm combining ant colony optimization algorithm with microgenetic algorithm is presented for the design of multilayered radar absorbing materials. During the optimization procedure the optimization constrained conditions are different in order to meet the practical requirements in the different frequency bands between 2 GHz and 18 GHz, and the multilayered radar absorbing materials is also designed for a given maximum total thickness. The effects of the thickness and the number of layers on the optimization results are discussed in detail. The numerical results show that this new hybrid algorithm can obtain a better solution than that of the genetic algorithm. Index Terms-multilayered radar absorbing materials, hybrid algorithm, ant colony optimization algorithm, microgenetic algorithm.

ordering, quadratic assignment, graph coloring and continuous function [6-8]) are now available. In this paper, a new optimization technique on the basis of the hybrid algorithm combining ACO with microgenetic algorithm (MGA) [9, 10] is presented to meet the characteristics of the multilayered radar absorbing materialss (RAM) construction. The new hybrid algorithm is used to optimize the RAM coatings made of tetrapod-shaped zinc oxide whisker (ZnOw) [11], and to obtain the optimal high performance, broadband, lightweight, and thin RAM with actual electromagnetic parameters. II. HYBRID ALGORITHM DESIGN A. Construction of the multilayered RAM coating Fig. 1 depicts the multilayered coating backed by a perfectly conducting plane. The incident wave is normal to the surface, then the input impedance for layer i is
i Z in = Z ci i +1 Z in + jZ ci tan(ki d i ) i +1 Z ci + jZ in tan(ki d i )

I.

INTRODUCTION

(1)

Ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO) was proposed by Dorigo and colleagues [1-3] as a method for solving hard combinatorial optimization problems in the nineties of the twentieth century. ACO is a novel category of bionic metaheuristic system, and takes inspiration from the foraging behavior of some ant species. ACO was initially applied to the classical Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). The main characteristics of this algorithm are positive feedback, distributed computation, and the use of a constructive greedy heuristic. Positive feedback accounts for rapid discovery of good solutions, distributed computation avoids premature convergence, and the greedy heuristic helps find acceptable solutions in the early stages of the search process. So ACO has strong robustness and is easy to combine with other methods in optimization, has wide application in various combined optimization fields. In recent years, the interest of the scientific community in ACO has risen sharply [4, 5]. Several successful applications of ACO to a wide range of different discrete or continuous optimization problems (such as vehicle routing, sequential
978-1-4244-1880-0/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE.

where Z ci = Z 0 ri / ri is characteristic wave impedance,

ki = 2 f

ri ri / c is wave number, d i

is thickness,

ri and ri

is the relative permeability and permittivity of the

i-th layer. Z 0 =

0 / 0 is the characteristic wave impedance

n +1

of free space. Considering the last layer is perfectly conducting plane, Z in = 0 . Therefore, the reflection coefficient of the multilayered RAM is
1 Zin Z0 R = 20 log 1 Z in + Z 0

(2)

ICMMT2008 Proceedings

Figure 1. Multilayered RAM coating construction

B. The flow chart of the hybrid algorithm Fig. 2 shows the flow chart of the hybrid algorithm. Firstly, set the parameters of the hybrid algorithm and initialize the ant colony and MGAs population. Secondly, construct the ACO solutions, apply pheromone local update rule. Thirdly, transfer the ACO solutions to MGA and optimize the thickness of the RAMs each layer with constrained conditions. Fourthly, choose the iteration-best solution and apply pheromone global update rule. Finally, verify the termination conditions and output the global-best solution.

C. Ant colony optimization algorithm design Based on the applications of ACO to continuous space optimization problems [6-8], in this paper the ACO is designed to aim at the construction of the RAM coating. Hypothesizing n is the layer of the RAM, m is the number of usable materials, and then a RAM construction can be represented through a sequence of n materials codes. Let each ant of the ant colony set out from the starting point, choose a materials code from the m kinds of materials in every step, then form a sequence after n steps, and this sequence represents one RAM construction. The state space scheme is shown in Fig. 3.

0 1 m 1

0 1 m 1

1 m 1

Figure 3. The state space scheme

Supposing S i denotes the materials code, which is chosen by ant at i-th layer ( i = 1, 2 n ). The pheromone i ( j ) associated with the i-th layer j-th materials code. Then the state transition strategy of the ant colony is given by

arg max( ( j )) q q0 i j = 0,1 m 1 Si = q > q0 S i ( rand )

(3)

where argmax() is a function and returns the j value which maximizes the i ( j ) , q0 (0,1) is a constant and generally given by 0.8, q [0,1] is a random number. S i ( rand ) is the chosen probability of i-th layer materials code and calculated using (4), then S i ( rand ) generates S i by roulette wheel selection rule.
Pi ( j ) = i ( j ) / i (k )
k =0 m 1

(4)

where Pi ( j ) denotes the chosen probability of i-th layer j-th materials code. The pheromone need to be update after each construction step by decreasing the pheromone values through pheromone evaporation, so-called pheromone local update rule. The main goal of the pheromone local update rule is to diversify the search performed by subsequent ants, to avoid premature convergence. The pheromone local update rule is given by (5) i ( j ) (1 ) i ( j ) + 0 (5)
Figure 2. The flow chart of the hybrid algorithm

where (0,1) is the pheromone decay coefficient, 0 is the initial value of the pheromone.

After n steps, ants accomplish the sequence, and one RAM is constructed. Then we transfer the sequence to MGA to optimize the thickness of each layer and obtain each ants fitness. Choosing the best ant with best fitness in the ant colony and applying the pheromone global update rule to the best ants path. The aim of the pheromone global update rule is to increase the pheromone values associated with the best solution. The pheromone global update rule is given by (6) i ( j ) (1 ) i ( j ) + / Fbest (6) where (0,1) is a parameter, Fbest is the fitness of global best ant. D. Microgenetic algorithm design In order to obtain the high performance and broadband absorption in the range of 2~18GHz, the fitness function is designed as 0 R > R1 (7a) F1 = 2 f 4GHz 1 R R1

operator was preferred to single point crossover. The mutation operator was not utilized in the MGA. III. NUMERICAL RESULTS The materials of the multilayered RAM coatings can be selected from 59 different kinds of substances. The relative permittivities and permeabilities of the 59 materials are briefly summarized in Table I. The reflection coefficients of the restrained conditions are 3dB in the frequency range of 2~4GHz, 5dB in the frequency range of 4~8GHz, and 8dB in the frequency range of 8~18GHz, respectively. The frequency step FStep = 0.08 GHz. The number of ants are 20, the ACO iterations are 20, The ACO parameters are q0 = 0.8 = 0.2 0 = 0.01 = 0.2 ; The size of MGA population is 10, The MGA generations are 100, and the evolution process restarts every 10 generations. Fig. 4 shows the reflection coefficients for 3 layers, 6 layers and 10 layers of the RAM coatings, respectively. The total thickness is 2mm. The corresponding constitutions are given in Table II. As the total thickness is 3mm, the reflection coefficients for 3 layers, 6 layers and 10 layers of the RAM coatings, respectively are shown in Fig. 5. The corresponding constitutions are given in Table III.
TABLE I RELATIVE COMPLEX PERMITTIVITIES AND PERMEABILITIES OF THE 59 MATERIALS Relative complex Relative complex permeabilities Material permittivities 45.87j23.32, 1.71j0.71, 0 45.51j23.01 1.69j0.72 13.82j6.95, 1.05j0.03, 1 13.66j6.91 1.05j0.03 58 6.34j5.26, 6.31j5.1 1, 1

1 R R2 0 R > R3 F3 = 8 < f 18GHz 1 R R3

where R1 , R2 , R3 are the restrained conditions.

F2 =

0 R > R2

4 < f 8GHz

(7b) (7c)

The frequency step is denoted by FStep , then the frequency points are given by N1 = ((4 2) / FStep ) + 1 = (2 / FStep ) + 1

N 2 = (8 4) / FStep = 4 / FStep N = (18 8) / FStep = 10 / FStep 3

N f = N1 + N 2 + N 3

(8)

The total points are (9) Therefore the fitness of each chromosome of the MGA population is

F1i + F2 i + F3i i =1 i =1 i =1 Nf Fk = max N N N F + F + F d d max i =1 1i i =1 2 i i =1 3i Nf d

N1 N2 N3
1 2 3

d d max

Layers 3

(10)
d > d max

6 10

TABLE II THE OPTIMAL RESULTS OF THE RAM (2mm) Material No./Thickness (mm) 27/0.1254+57/1.1769+28/0.7793 44/ 0.0030+32/0.2793+29/0.2638 +16/0.0063+56/0.6260+28/0.8252 32/0.2214+3/0.1578+48//0.1660 +4/0.5410+49/0.0121+11/0.0994 +14/0.0062+36/0.0010+11/0.0100+28/0.7780

Fitness 0.6225 0.6897 0.6617

where k = 1, 2

PS , PS is the size of the MGA population, d

Layers 3 6 10

is the sum of each layers thickness, d max is the given maximum total thickness, is a weight factor. The MGA starts with a random and small population. The population evolves in conventional GA fashion and converges in a few generations. At this point, keeping the best individual from the previously converged generations, a new random population is chosen and the evolution process restarts. The tournament selection strategy is used here. The crossover

TABLE III THE OPTIMAL RESULTS OF THE RAM (3mm) Material No./Thickness (mm) Fitness 36/1.3808+30/0.6842+28/0.9379 0.7851 40/0.0390+25/0.1341+36/0.1384 0.8100 +46/1.5208+21/0.0099+27/1.1444 0/0.0885+2/0.1591+33/0.04862 +40/0.0068+18/0.0467+3/1.4610 +1/0.0025+0/0.1978+52/0.0062+0/1.0785 0.8617

1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 -11 -12 -13 -14 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

IV. CONCLUSIONS
3 Layers 6 Layers 10 Layers

Frequency/GHz

Figure 4. The optimal results of RAM (2mm)

1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9

Reflection Coefficient/dB

3 Layers 6 Layers 10 Layers

In this paper, a new optimization technique based on the hybrid algorithm combining ACO and MGA is presented for the design of multilayered radar absorbing materials made of tetrapod-shaped ZnO whisker in the frequency range of 2~18GHz. The new hybrid algorithm represents the characteristics of the multilayered RAMs construction befittingly. The numerical results indicate that the optimal results obtained through the hybrid algorithm are better than those in [12], and validate the feasibility and validity of the new hybrid algorithm. The hybrid algorithm gives a new approach to solve the constrained combinatorial optimization problems, also gives a new method to optimize high performance, broadband, lightweight, and thin RAM with actual electromagnetic parameters. However, it is noticed that the results of over many layered RAM is not satisfied, it needs to improve the design of ACO, and this will be considered in later work. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The work reported in this paper is supported by the National Science Foundation of China No. (60671020). REFERENCES
A. Colorni, M. Dorigo, V. Maniezzo, Distributed optimization by ant colonies, Proceedings of the 1st European Conference on Artificial Life, pp. 134-142, 1991. [2] M. Dorigo, V. Maniezzo, A. Colorni, Ant system: Optimization by a colony of cooperating agents, IEEE Trans. Syst., Man, and Cybern. Part B, vol. 26, pp. 29-41, 1996. [3] M. Dorigo, M. Birattari, T. Stutzle, Ant colony optimization, IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine, vol. 1, pp. 28-39, 2006. [4] H. Duan, D. Wang, X. Yu, Review on research progress in ant colony algorithm, Chinese Journal of Nature, vol. 28, pp. 102-105, 2006. [5] H. Duan, D. Wang, X. Yu, Ant colony algorithm: Survey and prospect, Engineering Science, vol. 9, pp. 98-102, 2007. [6] Y. Chen, Ant colony system for continuous function optimization, Journal of SiChuan University (Engineering Science Edition), vol. 36, pp. 117-120, 2004. [7] Y. Chen, Scaleable chaotic ant colony optimization, Computer Engineering and Applications, vol. 43, pp. 68-70, 2007. [8] H. Duan, G. Ma, D. Wang, X. Yu, Improved ant colony algorithm for solving continuous space optimization problems, Journal of System Simulation, vol. 19, pp. 974-977, 2007. [9] D. S. Weile, E. Michielssen, Genetic algorithm optimization applied to electromagnetics: a review, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 45, pp. 343-353, 1997. [10] S. Chakravarty, R. Mittra, N. R. Williams, Application of a microgenetic algorithm to the dedsign of broad-band microwave absorbers using multiple frequency selective surface screens buried in dielectrics, IEEE Trans. Antenna Propag., vol. 50, pp. 284-296, 2002. [11] Z. Zhou, L. Chu, C. Hu, Microwave absorption behaviors of tetraneedle like ZnO whiskers, Materials Science & Engineering B, vol. 126, pp. 93-96, 2006. [12] K. Chao, Y. Liu, R. Yang, Z. Zhou, Optimization of multilayered ZnO whisker radar absorbing coatings using microgenetic algorithm, Journal of Functional Materials, vol. 1, pp. 63-66, 2007. [1]

Reflection Coefficient/dB

-10 -11 -12 -13 -14 -15 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Frequency/GHz

Figure 5. The optimal results of RAM (3mm)

Comparing the results in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 indicates that the RAM performance has the same tendency in [12]. The RAM absorption performance is obviously improved by increasing layers and total thickness. Comparing the results of the 10 layers coatings with those of 6 layers, the fitness is very small. The RAM performance can be very good to meet the restrained conditions in the high frequency bands (8~18GHz). However, The RAM performance is poor in the low frequency bands (2~4GHz), and can be improved with an increase in RAMs total thickness. Comparing this new hybrid algorithm with MGA in [12], the results obtained through the hybrid algorithm are basically better than those in [12]. The comparison of the optimal results is given by Table IV.
TABLE IV THE COMPARISON OF THE OPTIMAL RESULTS RAM RAM Optimal fitness Optimal fitness Thickness Layers in [12] in this paper 3 0.507 0.6225 2mm 6 0.642 0.6897 10 0.662 0.6617 3 0.736 0.7851 3mm 6 0.866 0.8100 10 0.861 0.8617