A compact linearly polarized antenna array with low sidelobe

Design of a low sidelobe collinear antenna array and feed network used in aviation is presented. The compact array with an overall dimension of 390 × 90 × 25 mm³ consists of 8 printed dipole elements. By exciting antenna elements with a group of optimized power distribution, the synthetical radiation patterns obtain -26 dB side lobe suppression and 15°main lobe beam width (3 dB) retainment in a desired operating band. The implementation of the tapered power distribution is carried out by using Wilkinson isolated power splitter. In addition, the antenna array is center fed by a coaxial line via a microstrip-to-reversed microstrip (MRM) structure. Experimental results show that a -25.0 dB sidelobe level is achieved with the main lobe beam widths less than 16.5° in an operating band from 3.3 to 3.7 GHz.