Design of a Vivaldi Antenna and Its Array Using a Non-Uniform Tapered Slot Line

Vivaldi antennas have been widely used due to their advantages such as wide-band, high directivity, and high gain. However, they also have disadvantages such as large size and a small beam-scanning range after being arrayed. In response to the above problems, this paper conducts research and design on the miniaturization of Vivaldi antennas and the expansion of wide-angle scanning characteristics. The main research work includes the following: Based on the non-uniform transmission line theory, a miniaturized non-uniform tapered slot-line Vivaldi antenna is designed. By bending the tapered slot-line, the antenna size is reduced by 25%. The simulation results show that the non-uniform tapered slot-line Vivaldi antenna achieves a -10 dB impedance bandwidth from 4-18 GHz. Thirdly, based on the phased-array design of the non-uniform tapered slot-line Vivaldi antenna, a miniaturized Vivaldi antenna linear array operating at 4 - 18 GHz is designed and fabricated. The simulation results show that the non-uniform tapered slot-line Vivaldi linear antenna array achieves a -10 dB impedance bandwidth from 4-18 GHz, realizes a ± 5° beam-scanning within the frequency band of 4-18 GHz, and has a maximum gain of 13.72 dB.