Optimization and fabrication by 3D printing of a volcano smoke antenna for UWB applications

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology is a low power and high data rate technology for applications like radar imaging, sensor data collection, position localization and medical imaging. In UWB systems, antennas plays a critical role as they are required to be compact and wideband with minimal pulse distortion. This paper present a small three-dimensional volcano smoke antenna, designed and optimized in a FDTD full-wave simulator and then fabricated by 3D printing. The antenna has a simulated 10 dB impedance bandwidth from 3.2 GHz to 12.6 GHz, suitable for the UWB band. The measured return-loss for the 3D printed antenna shows a good agreement with the simulations. Hence, 3D printing can be used as an alternative method for fabricating complex shaped three-dimensional antennas.