An extremely low-profile ultra-wideband antenna with monopole-like radiation characteristics

Summary form only given. Ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas have been the subject of many studies due to their widespread applications in areas ranging from wireless communications and sensing to radar systems and microwave imaging. The size of a UWB antenna is primarily determined by its lowest frequency of operation. Therefore, in applications where relatively low RF/microwave frequencies are used, the physical size of a UWB antenna may become prohibitively large. Additionally, in certain low-frequency applications such as military communications at HF, VHF, and UHF bands, antennas with monopole-like radiation patterns (i.e., vertically-polarized with omnidirectional radiation patterns) are required. In such applications, besides having compact dimensions, reducing the overall height of the antenna and its overall visual signature becomes extremely important as well.