Partially Dielectric-Loaded Ridged Horn Antenna Design for Ultrawideband Gain and Radiation Performance Enhancement

Abstract

In this letter, a partially dielectric-loaded doubleridged horn antenna (PD-DRHA) that operates at 1-18-GHz frequency band is proposed for ultrawideband applications. The partially dielectric loading technique using a small lens inward the aperture has been implemented to enhance the gain of the standard double-ridged horn antenna (DRHA), without changing the physical dimensions. Approximately 5 dB gain increment level is achieved from 5 to 15 GHz with slight changes on return loss characteristics. Moreover, the pattern distortion of DRHA typically between 12-18-GHz band is improved. The antenna gain, radiation pattern, and input reflection performance measurements are presented with comparisons.Index Terms-Dielectric loading, ridged horn antenna, ultrawideband (UWB).

A Compact High-Gain and Front-to-Back Ratio Elliptically Tapered Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna With Trapezoid-Shaped Dielectric Lens

“…One of the antennas for such applications could be a double ridge guide horn antenna; however it is relatively large and heavy [3]. The prominent option for this purpose is the use of Vivaldi antenna [4] since it has wide bandwidth, directional radiation pattern and low profile.…”

Ultrawideband doubly tapered slot antenna (DTSA) with integrated balun as a feed for time‐domain target detection

“…All these systems inherently require multiband or ultrawideband frequency ranges to operate and in place of using multiple antennas for these systems it is now more convenient to use antenna with ultrawideband impedance bandwidth and thus reduce the complexity of the systems. Double ridge guide horn (DRGH), bi‐conical antennas and UWB monopole antennas are few options that are utilized widely but some of these types are large, heavy, and not readily compatible with the planar technology. While others are less directional or require special techniques to produce substantial gain.…”

Dielectric loaded TEM horn-fed ridged horn antenna designfor ultrawideband ground-penetrating impulse radar

“…Its array version was designed to extend the bandwidth ratio up to 50:1 [9]. Recently, partially dielectric lens loading was also proposed for gain enhancement of a standard double-ridged horn antenna [10]. This paper describes a favorable antenna array combination by using the PDTEM horn as a feeding mechanism of the standard 1-18 GHz double-ridged horn to achieve extended wideband radiation performances with enhanced gain from 400 MHz up to 15 GHz.…”

“…The results of the UWB gain and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) measurements of the novel modified ridged horn structure are presented and compared with same-sized standard dual-ridged horn antenna (DRHA). The case shape, outer sizes, and dielectric structure of the designed antenna are almost the same as in [10]. However, the main novelty of this study is the use of the Vivaldi-shaped TEM horn feeder mechanism, which is completely different from both the standard and modified ridged horns in [10] that use TE/TM mode feeding.…”

“…The case shape, outer sizes, and dielectric structure of the designed antenna are almost the same as in [10]. However, the main novelty of this study is the use of the Vivaldi-shaped TEM horn feeder mechanism, which is completely different from both the standard and modified ridged horns in [10] that use TE/TM mode feeding. Hence, the lower cut-off frequency of the ridged horn in [10] can be extended from 800 MHz to 400 MHz, which is the major contribution of this study that yields increased gain bandwidth ratio by up to 80%.…”