Implementation of rectangular slit-inserted ultra-wideband tapered slot antenna

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Antenna Theory
• Wireless Communication

Background:

• Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication requires antennas with broad operational bandwidths.
• Traditional antenna designs often face trade-offs between size, bandwidth, and performance.
• Enhancing antenna bandwidth while maintaining a compact form factor is a key research challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and analyze a tapered slot antenna (TSA) for ultra-wideband communication.
• To improve the bandwidth and reduce the physical size of a TSA using integrated rectangular slits.
• To evaluate the radiation characteristics and gain performance of the proposed antenna design.

Main Methods:

• Design of a rectangular slit-inserted tapered slot antenna.
• Electromagnetic simulation to predict antenna performance.
• Fabrication and measurement of the proposed antenna prototype.
• Analysis of bandwidth, radiation patterns, and gain.

Main Results:

• The proposed antenna achieved an operational bandwidth of 8.45 GHz, a significant improvement of 4.72 GHz over a basic TSA.
• The antenna exhibits a directional radiation pattern with an appropriate 3 dB beamwidth, suitable for location recognition.
• A maximum antenna gain of 7.55 dBi was observed within the operational bandwidth, particularly in the 5 GHz band.
• Simulation and measurement results demonstrated close agreement, validating the antenna design.

Conclusions:

• The rectangular slit-inserted TSA effectively enhances bandwidth and reduces antenna area for UWB applications.
• The antenna's directional radiation pattern and gain performance are well-suited for location-based services.
• The validated design offers a promising solution for compact and high-performance UWB antenna requirements.