A high gain array antenna with serially fed dipole elements

In this paper, a planar array antenna is proposed to maximize its gain performance, which is critical to point-to-point communications. Comparing to conventional parabolic reflectors, the planar array antenna is a cost effective alternative since the printed circuit board fabrication process can be adopted. However, the major drawback in the design of high gain array antenna is the losses in its feeding network. Therefore, in the proposed design, dipole elements are connected in serial to minimize transmission line lengths and the number of braches, which results in a relatively concise feeding network. The array elements used are bow-tie like dipoles which yield a broad operation band.