Design and Optimization of a Wideband Printed-Dipole Array

摘要

Modem satellite and mobile communications systems continue to push the bandwidth requirement of antenna subsystems. Printed microstrip architectures have been widely investigated and are attractive for their conformability, small size and cost effectiveness. While vigorous research activity over the past two decades has improved the bandwidth of microstrip elements to upwards of 30%, this may not be adequate for the future system demands of multipurpose antennas. In this report, printed dipole arrays are investigated. They have the advantage of large bandwidths, up to 100%. Arrays of this type were described in the literature, however, no detailed analysis or measurements were provided. For this report, a 32 element wideband printed dipole array was fabricated, analyzed from 4 to 20 Ghz and successfully optimized for improved bandwidth performance in excess of an octave. The important design parameters were extracted and their effect on performance were demonstrated.