Compact UWB Antipodal Vivaldi Array for Beam Steering Applications

A novel 6 × 1 antipodal Vivaldi antenna array (AVAA) is presented that can beam steer in the E-plane. The array is matched from 1.66-16.6 GHz and can steer with no grating lobes, at end-fire, in the range up to 11 GHz due to the element spacing being a half-wavelength (13.6mm) at that frequency. This compact ultra-wideband (UWB) design measures only 118.6×81.0mm, has a gain of 13.5dBi, and has low side-lobe levels across its operational bandwidth (BW). Applications of the AVAA include novel beam steering systems, UWB radar, and other communication systems where wideband operation, low side-lobe levels, and antenna beam steering is of interest.