Analysis and Design of Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna

for UWB Applications

Hien Chu Ba, Hiroshi Shirai Chien Dao Ngoc
Graduate School of Science and Engineering School of Electronics and Telecommunications
Chuo University Hanoi University of Science and Technology
chubahienbg@gmail.com, shirai@elect.chuo-u.ac.jp chien.daongoc@hust.edu.vn

Abstract-An antipodal Vivaldi antenna for UWB applications is II. ANTENNA GEOMETRY AND DESIGN
presented in this paper. The proposed antenna is designed with
simple structure but presents very good plot impedance The antenna is designed on a low-cost FR4 substrate with
characteristic. In addition, the antenna offers high gain and flat dielectric constant Er 4.4, thickness h
= 1.6mm, and=

gain in the operating bandwidth from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. The dielectric loss tangent 6 0.02, respectively. The antenna
=

antenna design simulation has been performed by using the
commercially available simulation software HFSS 14. The
antenna is fabricated on popular substrate FR4 with a dielectric
constant of 4.4 and thickness 1.6 mm. The fabricated antenna has
been tested for its return loss and directional pattern, and
compared with simulated results.
Keywords- Vivaldi antenna; ultra-wideband (UWE).
I. INTRODUCTION
Ultra wideband technology is a revolutionary approach to
the wireless communication in transmitting and receiving
pulses based on compressed wave form in the time rather than
sinusoidal compressed wave form in the frequency [1]. In
geometry is shown in Figure 1. The proposed antenna includes
two main parts: feed line and the radiation flares. The shape of
the flares is designed in the form of elliptical curves. The
elliptical configuration presents especially good broadband
characteristics due to the smooth transition between the
radiation flares and the feeding line. It is one of the optimum
curvatures [7].
Theoretically, the upper frequency limit of a Vivaldi
antenna is infinity. The lower frequency limit depends mainly
on the width of antenna and the effective dielectric constant
(C:ejJ)' Lower frequency limit is calculated from [8]
c
[min 2W�
(1)
eft
=

February 2004, FCC nominated to use spectrum 3.l-10.6 GHz

for user without registration [2]. The Vivaldi antenna is one of Er+1 Er-1 (1 12h)_1/2
+ +
_

Eett - -2- (2)

the classic UWB antennas with many applications. It was fust --2- W
investigated by P. Gibson in 1979 [3].
The major radii of four ellipses are chosen according to the
The Vivaldi antenna may be classified into three kinds: following equation
tapered slot Vivaldi antenna, antipodal Vivaldi antenna and
balanced antipodal Vivaldi antenna [3 - 5]. The antipodal W-Wt
Vivaldi antenna offers many advantages such as good return
a =
' -2- , (3)
loss, minimal signal distortion, and does not influence the a2=1.68b2 , (4)
UWB band pulse shape. The basic shape of Vivaldi antenna b, =0.48 a, , (5)
consist a feed line, which is usually microstrip or stripline, and W
b2=-. (6)
the radiating structure. Many designs of Vivaldi antenna has 2
been reported with difference radiating structure. The
The width of the feeding line Wt has the characteristic
exponentially tapered curves are the most solution that can
provide broad band [6]. To apply to the UWB applications, the impedance Zo 50 n and can be calculated using the
=

antipodal Vivaldi antenna has been designed with many following equations [9]:
outstanding characteristics: simple design, very good
impedance bandwidth, high gain, and flat gain. In this paper, an Zo = �ln 8
h
,fEett
( W + 4hW ) , for (�) < 1 (7)
antipodal Vivaldi antenna is designed simply with elliptical
for (�) �
120n 1
curves. Z0-
- (8)
E
,f ett 71+
[W 1. 3 93+ sin (71+1·444)
2 W 1
This paper is organized as follows. In Section II, the basic
antenna design has been explained analytically first, and detail Along with the above specification, the antenna has been
specification has been adjusted by simulator software. The
designed for UWB usage (3.1 - 10.6 GHz) with the input
antenna has been fabricated and its performance has been
impedance Zo 50 n, and the optimal dimension has been
=

discussed in Section III. Finally, Section IV concludes the work

adjusted with the aid of HFSS simulation software [10].
in this paper.

978-1-4799-5051-5/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE

391
 """,'\,
,, -1 0
,
,
\ -15
\
\
\
\
\ ·20
I iii'
I
I :!:!.
I - -25

I
I iii
I
I -30
I
I
/
/
_-- I -35
/
/
/
/ -40
/
,
,, , ,,
Frequency IGHz]
6 7 8 10 11

,,
, /
,

�/

Figure 2. Simulated return loss

------ 'W ·10Dmm'-----�

15
330
10

-5

-10

-15

-20

-25 270 H-+-+-f-J 90

-20

-15

-10

-5

,, ,,
++
h-1.6mm
10
210 150
15
Figure I. Antenna geometry 180

The modification of the feed line and the flares of the (a)
antenna are main significant difference of this antenna
10
compared to other Vivaldi antennas. The antenna used simple
antipodal structure and ground plane is reduced down to a
parallel transmission line. Figure 2 shows the return loss of -5

antipodal Vivaldi antenna. This antenna exhibits very low -10

return loss SII compare other antipodal Vivaldi antennas -15

[II-IS]. SII is lower than -IS dB from 3.S to 11 GHz. -20

Figure 3 shows the simulated radiation patterns of the -25 270 t-t--'__r-t-=-
-20
designed antenna for S and 7 GHz.
-15

TABLE I: THE DIMENSION OF PROPOSED ANTENNA -10

-5

W 100.00 mm b, 23.40 mm
210 150
10

L 9S.00 mm b2 SO.OO mm 180

(b)
h 1.60 mm Wf 3.20 mm Figure 3. The simulated radiation patterns of proposed antenna at a) 5 GHz,
b) 7 GHz

a, 48.40 mm Lf 18.S4 mm The antenna exhibits highly directive patterns in the H and E
planes. From this figure, it also can be seen that the front-to­
a2 83.S3 mm t 3S 11m back ratio is at least greater than 12 dB. The gain of antenna is
shown in Figure 4. This antenna offers high and flat gain from
6 to 8 dB.

392
 18
16
14

�12
In
�10
c::
'n;
(!) 8

Figure 6. Photograph of the fabricated antipodal Vivaldi antenna

7 10 11
Frequency [GHz) - Simulated E-plane
Measured E- lane

· 10

Figure 4. Gain of proposed antenna 300 60

III. MEASUREMENT RESULTS AND DISCUSSION · 20

In fabrication, AutoCAD DXF file is exported from HFSS ·30 270 {"j---j 90

simulator. Then this file is imported to Proteus ARES PCB

Layout program to layout antenna structure. With PCB files, · 20

we made the antenna. The fabricated antenna is shown in

Figure 6. The return loss and radiation patterns of the antenna · 10 - -, -

are measured in an anechoic chamber using E8361A network

analyzer. Figure 5 presents the simulated and measured return 2'0 150

180
loss of proposed antenna. The measured line closely resembles
the simulated line.
- Simulated H-plane
o Measured H- lane
The difference between simulated and measured S11 may
come from the connection loss between the printed circuit
· 10

board and SMA connector, and the unstable FR4 substrate 60

parameters.
· 20

·30 270 1--+--/ -r----I 90

-1 0 .................................. ..
· 20

-15

· 10
-20

m
� -25 2'0 150
�

Cii -30
'80

-35

Figure 7. Normalized radiation pattern of the proposed antenna in 5 GHz

The radiation patterns of the antenna are shown in Figure 7

Frequency [GHz] and Figure 8. From these figures, it is found that the measured
radiation patterns have compared well with simulated ones.
Figure 5. Return loss performance of the proposed antenna The measured results demonstrate the quality of this design.

393
 - Simulaled E-plane AKNOWLEDGMENT
o Measured E-plane

A part of this work has been supported by 2013 Chuo

-10
University Grand for Special Research and a Scientific
Research Grand-In-Aide (24560478, 2013) from Japan Society
for the Promotion of Science, Japan_
-20

REFERENCESS
-30 270 1--- '---'j,.,----il--c 90
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-20
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120

-10
[3] P. 1. Gibson, 'The Vivaldi Aerial", Proc. 9th European. Microwave
Conference,pp. 101-105,September 1979.
210 150
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180

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-10
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Figure 8_ Normalized radiation pattern of the proposed antenna in 7 GHz
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substrate_
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