Miniaturized Low-Profile Ultrawideband Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna Array Loaded With Edge Techniques

Abstract

A miniaturized low-profile ultrawideband antipodal Vivaldi antenna (AVA) array loaded with edge techniques is presented to enhance mutual coupling. Originating from a conventional AVA, the edges of the adjacent elements are overlapped with shorted pins loaded to expand the low operating band, suppress the in-band resonance and achieve miniaturization. The edge truncation effect of the E-plane array is subsequently improved by adding auxiliary radiating arms and a shorted strip at the end. Eventually, an 8×8 finite array without any complicated feeding mechanism or transition is constructed to verify the design. The measured operating band of the AVA array is 0.9–12 GHz (13.3:1), and the measured active voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) is less than 3 when scanning up to ±60° in both the E- and H-planes, implying its wideband and wide-angle scanning capability. Owing to its compact size, ultrawide band, wide-angle scanning and simple feeding structure, the proposed AVA array shows promise for application in large-scale arrays and communication systems.