UWB Wire-Bowtie Array for FM-PCL Passive Radar

Abstract

Passive coherent location (PCL) systems using commercial FM radio broadcast stations as illuminators of opportunity (FM-PCL) require an antenna system with a null in its radiation pattern for suppressing the direct path interference (DPI) from the selected FM broadcast station. To maximize the surveillance coverage of the FM-PCL, ideally, the antenna should have a cardioid radiation pattern, which can be obtained by the ideal couplet of isotropic radiators. We carry out a theoretical and experimental analysis to show that such a cardioid pattern cannot be realized by a couplet of cylindrical wire antennas. Therefore, we introduce an alternative array configuration and at the same time seek a simple and low-cost antenna solution for FM-PCL. The proposed antenna is a two-element array of UWB wire bowties, which has an ultrawide bandwidth, a stable main beam, a large beamwidth, and a fixed array setup within the FM-PCL frequency range (88–108 MHz), leading to a simple antenna implementation. At the same time, as it does not require expensive RF and mechanical parts, a low-cost antenna solution for FM-PCL is obtained. Hence, the proposed antenna satisfactorily meets the goal of this work, i.e., simple and low-cost antenna solution for the FM-PCL passive radar.