UWB TEM horn antenna for the asphalt pavement investigation

A simple Ultra-WideBand (UWB) exponentially-tapered Transverse ElectroMagnetic (TEM) horn antenna is presented for the asphalt detection based on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). In order to reduce the reflections from the antenna aperture, some absorbing material is loaded on the outer surface of the conductor. Comparing with the traditional TEM horn antenna, the proposed antenna has a small size and a large impedance bandwidth. Simulated and measured results show that the proposed TEM horn antenna has a low Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) below 2 over the whole band from 0.35 GHz to 12 GHz, good radiation characteristics, and small late-time ringing, which can perfectly meet the requirements of the GPR application.