UWB Antennas: From Hype, Promise to Reality

Five years have passed since federal communications commission (FCC) announced the emission mask for commercial ultra-wideband (UWB) applications in April 2002. In the past 5 years, UWB technology in particular high data-rate wireless communications has made a big progress. With such a rapid development, the UWB antenna R&D has also evolved fast from theoretical study to engineering design as well as from general concepts to specific prototypes. This address is to review the progress of UWB antenna technology, show the key achievements in UWB antenna design, and then foresee the promising applications of UWB antennas and arrays.