Rectangular vs. equilateral triangular lattice comparison in a T-slot loaded strongly coupled dipole array

This work is focused on the impact of the array lattice in a strongly coupled dipole array. In order to study this, a wideband (6.2:1 BW ratio) dipole based array element was designed and used to compare lattice impact in our analysis. The element was designed using the unit cell analysis. In order to improve the bandwidth at the lower end of the frequency band the dipole was loaded with a T-slot increasing the electrical length. Based on this design a comparative analysis was conducted between rectangular and isosceles triangular lattices with respect to return loss, embedded element pattern and inter-element coupling. Emphasis was given to the analysis of the lattice comparison in the E-plane of the array as it is the most prone to variations with the array scanning.