A Wideband, Wide Scanning Tightly Coupled Dipole Array With Integrated Balun (TCDA-IB)

A key challenge in the design of wideband dipole phased arrays is the design of equally wideband baluns which are sufficiently compact to fit within the unit cell (typically in the linear dimension at low frequencies). In this paper, we exploit the reactance of a compact Marchand balun as an impedan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 61; no. 9; pp. 4538 - 4548
Main Authors: Doane, Jonathan P., Sertel, Kubilay, Volakis, John L.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.09.2013
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Subjects:
Antenna arrays
Antennas
Applied sciences
Arrays
Bandwidth
broadband antennas
Exact sciences and technology
Feeds
Impedance
Impedance matching
Integrated circuit modeling
phased arrays
Radiocommunications
Substrates
Telecommunications
Telecommunications and information theory
Prototype
Cross polarization
Dipole antenna arrays
Balun
Broadband antennas
Phased array antenna
Low frequency
Reactance
phased arrays
Impedance matching
Wide band
Simulation
Standing wave ratio
Antenna array
Antenna arrays
ISSN:0018-926X, 1558-2221
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:A key challenge in the design of wideband dipole phased arrays is the design of equally wideband baluns which are sufficiently compact to fit within the unit cell (typically in the linear dimension at low frequencies). In this paper, we exploit the reactance of a compact Marchand balun as an impedance matching network for each array element. The elimination of bulky external baluns results in a significant reduction of size, weight and cost, while the bandwidth is simultaneously improved by over 30%, compared to standard feeding techniques. In this manner, a tightly coupled dipole array with an integrated balun (TCDA-IB) is developed which achieves 7.35:1 bandwidth (0.68 - 5.0 GHz) while scanning to ±45° in all directions, subject to . In a dual-polarization configuration, the TCDA-IB has low cross polarization of over the majority of the band. Measured results are presented for a prototype 8 × 8 element TCDA-IB, showing good agreement with simulation.
ISSN:0018-926X
1558-2221
DOI:10.1109/TAP.2013.2267199