Design and Optimization of Compact Balanced Antipodal Staircase Bow-Tie Antenna

A compact planar balanced antipodal bow-tie antenna with a staircase shape and size of 26 times 26 times 1.6 mm
³
is presented. The antenna is optimized for operation across the entire ultrawideband (UWB) from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz by combining finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) code and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The proposed antenna has reflection coefficient below -10 dB through the entire band frequency, low cross-polarization level, and reasonable gain values over the same frequency band.