Characteristics of a corrugated tapered slot antenna with dielectric rod and metallic reflector

A novel ultrawideband (UWB) tapered slot antenna with high directivity is presented. It operates in the frequency range from 2.2 GHz up to 8.5 GHz. The antenna consists of three parts. As feed, a tapered slot on a PCB is used. Additional corrugations at the lateral metallic borders of the tapered structure lead to reduced side lobe levels and a flat gain in the main direction. The PCB is inserted into a cylindrical dielectric rod to increase the directivity. Finally a metallic reflector is added at the back of the antenna structure to reduce the backward radiation. With this design, a mean gain of 9 dBi and a stable main beam direction with a nearly constant 3 dB beam width, both in the E- and H-plane, were achieved. The antenna shows excellent time domain behavior with a high and sharp peak as well as low ringing of the impulse response.