Design of Dual-Polarized Pyramidal Log-Periodic Antenna with Integrated Feed for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

A dual-polarized log-periodic antenna with 5:1 bandwidth is considered for wideband, amplitude only direction-finding applications. The proposed system is comprised of two identical, orthogonal, sets of trapezoidal log-periodic arms. The arms’ inclination from planar facilitates reduced back lobe radiation to improve directivity and efficiency once absorber is introduced. One arm of each polarization set contains a variable radius coaxial shell to achieve impedance matching such that the system impedance at the base of the antenna is matched to 50 ohms. Analysis and design for the 3d printed direction-finding antenna system is accomplished using a commercial off the shelf (COTS) finite element method (FEM) solver.