Layered structure printed dipole antenna with integrated balun for phased array radars

Abstract

A Layered structure printed dipole antenna using through via-hole mechanism has been proposed for phased array radars. For the dipole a low dielectric constant Rogers 5880 substrate has been used to stabilize the structure for high power while, the transmission line feed has been put on a high dielectric constant Rogers TMM10 substrate, to suppress unnecessary radiation, coupling and reducing the size of the antenna. Printed balun has been used to match the impedance by providing a balanced network in order to reduce the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) as much as possible. Via-hole configuration provides an increase in the bandwidth as compared to the open stub configuration and helps to establish a connection between dipole layer and transmission line mechanism. The resonant frequency is set to 2.8 GHz. A 50% reduction in the size of the antenna is also observed, making it feasible for large array antennas. All the results have been calculated using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) simulation tool, further, the prototyping has been done and S-parameter results are cross-verified, which indeed validates the simulation results.