UWB Antipodal Vivaldi antenna with higher radiation performances using metamaterials

摘要

In this paper, an Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB) Antipodal Vivaldi antenna with higher radiation performances is proposed. Zero-index metamaterials units with Meander-line shape are placed on the antenna aperture to improve the antenna directivity. An increase of 4 dB in the gain with equal beamwidths in the E and H planes is achieved at different frequencies. The antenna covers 142.8% bandwidth with input match better than -10 dB from 1.3GHz to 12GHz. It has practically unchanged radiation patterns over the operating bandwidth where the gain varies from 9.5 dB at 5GHz-12.4dB at 10GHz. Measurement results show satisfactory agreement with simulation. Therefore, loading with metamaterials makes the VIVALDI antenna directivity frequency independent. This UWB antenna is eventually a good candidate for wireless communications and radar applications.