Timed Vivaldi arrays for steerable energy pattern with low side lobes

Abstract

A novel design of timed Vivaldi antenna arrays for steerable energy patterns is presented in this work. Three geometries are studied and designed in order to obtain an optimum energy pattern with low side lobe level (SLL) during beam steering: equally antenna array, unequally antenna array, and concentric ring array. The antenna elements are fed with the fifth derivative Gaussian pulse. The design process is carried out by the well-known sequential quadratic programming. Three design examples with 16 antenna elements are studied by considering different distribution of antenna positions. The mutual coupling phenomenon is considered by full wave simulations of Vivaldi antenna elements in the design examples. The results show a good performance of the steerable energy pattern with low SLL with ultra wideband operation.