Development of an ultra wideband Vivaldi antenna array

Abstract

We have developed a 1/spl times/16 sub-array antenna structure for ultra wideband applications such as see-through-walls imaging radar. The utilized single element is a flared-antipodal design and has demonstrated almost constant gain and beamwidth over a broad bandwidth of 5 GHz. A one to sixteen wideband Wilkinson power divider was designed, fabricated and utilized to feed the sub-array. Measured results are in excellent agreement with predicted ones, as a constant 13 dB gain and a 4/spl deg/ 3-dB beamwidth was obtained within the operational band of 8-12 GHz.