The role of ground plane plays in wideband phased array antenna

Two wideband phased arrays based on tightly coupled elements are considered. Specifically, wideband arrays with two different types of elements are investigated and compared, and the role of the ground plane plays in wideband phased arrays is studied. Based on the numerical results obtained from the commercial software Ansoft HFSS, the general relationship among the ground plane, operation bandwidth, and gain is discovered. Finally, some useful tips are presented to facilitate the wideband array design for missions with different requirements.