The aim of this paper is to optimize a Balanced Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna (BAVA) to obtain a design compatible with the FCC UWB regulations (return loss less than -10dB for 3.1 to 10.6GHz) as well as having a high gain, low cross polarization, better group delay and smaller size as compared to several published designs. The paper also illustrates the important decisions taken in the design process to help reducing the optimization time and resources. The BAVA has been optimized to reduce antenna return loss and enhance directivity by directly applying Swarm Particle Optimization (PSO) algorithm on a full scale parametric simulation model of BAVA in FEKO suite. Finally, several important radiation characteristics are obtained and compared using EMSS FEKO and Ansoft HFSS to ensure consistency in results.