A Compact Vivaldi Shaped Partially Dielectric Loaded TEM Horn Antenna for UWB Communication

Mustafa İlarslan,A Serdar Türk,M Emre Aydemir,Salih Demirel,A Kenan Keskin

doi:10.1155/2014/847169

Mustafa İlarslan, A Serdar Türk + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/847169

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Abstract

Ultrawideband (UWB) antennas are of huge demand and Vivaldi antennas as well as the TEM horn antennas are good candidates for UWB applications as they both have relatively simple geometry and high gain over a wide bandwidth. The aim of this study is to design a compact antenna that achieves maximum gain over a bandwidth between 1.5 and 10.6 GHz while minimizing its size. The idea is to make use of combined respective advantages of Vivaldi and TEM horn antennas to achieve the desired goals by shaping the TEM horn antenna to look like a Vivaldi antenna. The antenna structure is modified by a dielectric load in the center to increase the gain bandwidth. It is placed in a surrounding box made of PEC material to reduce the undesired side lobes and to obtain more directive radiation pattern. The simulations are performed by using the CST STUDIO SUITE electromagnetic (EM) simulation software and they are later verified by the actual measurements. The Vivaldi shaped partially dielectric loaded (VS-PDL) TEM horn antenna is proposed as a compact UWB antenna for systems using the newly established UWB band and also for the communication systems of popular bands like ISM, Wi-Fi, and GSM.

Highlights

Even though the idea was older, UWB technology has become popular starting from the late 1960s because of its use in the form of impulse radar in military area
The idea is to make use of these combined respective advantages of Vivaldi antennas and TEM horn antennas to achieve the desired goals by shaping the TEM horn antenna to look like a Vivaldi antenna
The simulation results show that the Vivaldi shaped partially dielectric loaded (VS-PDL) TEM horn antenna with 5 cm aperture depth as given in Figure 3(a) achieves an optimum performance over the desired bandwidth while it is practically possible to implement it physically as a compact structure

Summary

Introduction

Even though the idea was older, UWB technology has become popular starting from the late 1960s because of its use in the form of impulse radar in military area. UWB technologies have been used increasingly for highspeed RF wireless communication, high power RF jamming, and high-resolution impulse radar systems as they have a number of advantages over traditional narrowband systems like low complexity, low cost, and improved detection, ranging, and target resolution performances [1, 2]. UWB antennas are obviously a vital part of these systems as they are closely linked to the system performance. They are basically needed to have maximum gain over a specified wide bandwidth.

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