A Miniaturized Linear Wideband Phased Array with Dual-Polarization

ABSTRACT

In this article, a novel miniaturized dual-polarized linear wideband phased array (1 × 16) that operated from 0.45 to 2.5 GHz (5.5:1) is introduced. Although the design of the proposed array is based on the tightly coupled dipoles arrays (TCDA) concept, the proposed array is more difficult to design than the traditional TCDA. Conventionally, the dual-polarized TCDA is usually shown as a square or rectangle planar array for pursuing good performance by using the couplings between the elements. However, to a linear dual-polarized TCDA, only one element is set in the direction of the vertical polarization (V-polarization) or horizontal polarization (H-polarization). No periodicity and no couplings between the elements can be utilized to keep the performance of wide bandwidth. In order to solve this problem and keep the performance in this polarization, the shapes of the element and the ground are designed carefully. The proposed array is designed as a linear array, in which there are 16 unit cells and each unit cell consists of only one horizontal polarized (H-polarized) element and one V-polarized element (1 × 1). The array achieves a low total profile (0.13λ_low). The array exhibits a measured active VSWR < 3.0 at broadside and VSWR < 3.3 at = 45° in the azimuth plane. Agreement with simulations presented in this article reveals the feasibility of the design.

KEYWORDS:

• Dual-polarization
• mutual couplings
• phased array
• wideband array