Hybrid metaheuristics for the design of coupled resonator filters

The design of coupled resonator filters used in many telecommunication applications poses an optimization problem that can be tackled with heuristic methods. In many configurations, simple heuristic methods do not give satisfactory results, and the combination in hybrid metaheuristics of local and global search methods is a better approach. This article analyzes the systematic development of hybrid metaheuristic methods for the design of coupled resonator filters. Engineers normally use the MATLAB computing environment to work on the design of these devices, so the available MATLAB optimization toolboxes are used here as a basis to address those optimization problems. The results obtained are in general satisfactory, and the best results are obtained in the experiments with memetic algorithms in which methods based in populations (Genetic Algorithms and Scatter Search) are combined with local search methods to improve individuals in the population at different parts of the metaheuristic. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.