Semicircular Patch-Embedded Vivaldi Antenna for Miniaturized UWB Radar Sensors.

Area of Science:

• Electromagnetic engineering
• Antenna theory and design

Background:

• Conventional Vivaldi antennas offer ultrawide bandwidth but exhibit low gain at lower frequencies.
• Miniaturized antennas are crucial for modern electronic devices, demanding improved performance characteristics.
• Microstrip-to-slot line feeding is a common technique for antenna integration.

Discussion:

• A novel Vivaldi antenna topology is proposed, integrating semicircular patch elements along the side edges.
• This design manipulates electric field phases to achieve constructive interference at the radiating end, enhancing low-frequency gain.
• The embedment of semicircular patches overcomes limitations of traditional slotted topologies for low-band impedance matching.

Key Insights:

• The proposed antenna achieves a wider operational bandwidth, spanning from 2.84 to 9.83 GHz.
• A significant gain enhancement of 5 dB at the low-frequency band is demonstrated through simulation.
• The miniaturized antenna, measuring 45 × 40 × 0.8 mm³, shows excellent agreement between simulated and measured results.

Outlook:

• This design offers a promising solution for applications requiring compact, high-performance antennas with ultrawide bandwidth and improved low-frequency gain.
• Further research could explore variations in patch geometry and feeding structures for even greater performance optimization.
• The findings contribute to the advancement of miniaturized antenna technology for wireless communication systems.