Beam‐squint rectified balanced antipodal Vivaldi antenna with sliced fins and quarter‐wavelength labyrinth director

Abstract

AbstractThis paper introduces a gain‐enhanced, beam‐squint rectified balanced antipodal Vivaldi antenna (BAVA) with symmetrically sliced fins and a novel square‐shaped metallic labyrinth director. The proposed antenna operates from 2 to 18 GHz with S11 less than −10 dB maintaining a fractional bandwidth of 160%, realizes 12.564 dBi as maximum gain at 18 GHz, and achieves greater than 3.415 dBi gain throughout the functioning band of frequency. Improvement of broadside gain by reconfiguration of current loops through symmetric slicing of radiating flares and beam‐squint correction using quarter‐wavelength labyrinth director are addressed by the proposed antenna. The maximum realized size of the antenna is 80 × 40 × 0.508 mm3. Consistent radiation patterns are observed at selected frequencies. Numerical evaluation with a full wave simulation tool and consequent experimental validation with a compact antenna test range is performed.