Mutual Coupling Evaluation and Radiation Pattern Performance for Coplanar Vivaldi Antenna Array

Abstract

This study has aimed to examine the mutual coupling evaluation and the radiation pattern performance of the Coplanar Vivaldi Antenna (CVA) array. Generally, the mutual coupling evaluation is determined based on the calculation of two antenna elements in the E-plane and the mutual scattering assessment of several linear and planar array configurations. The calculation is analyzed by multiplying the radiation pattern modeling of its element and the flux pointing vector. There has been a significant difference between the simulation and the modeling results of the radiation pattern element and mutual coupling of the Coplanar Vivaldi antenna. The mutual scattering has been determined in the contour plot with different array configurations in the E and in the H-plane. Coplanar Vivaldi Antenna with Exponential Corrugated Slot (CVA-ECT) has showed a better return loss and gain performance than CVA with No Slot (CVA-NS) in the E-plane, which is different in the H-plane. With the same volume size of an array, the smaller the width of the element is, the better the performance in radiation pattern than the wider ones is. The planar array shows that at 7 GHz, the 3×2 array gains up to 13.69 dB while 2×2 CVA-NS attains 8.9 dB in the same volume.