Wideband slablike folded dipole antenna for low frequency airborne radar

A slablike folded dipole antenna is proposed for low frequency airborne radar applications. The proposed antenna has a wide impedance bandwidth, low profile, and small size. Without ground plane (GP), the antenna relative bandwidth is over 54% (VSWR≤2). The relative bandwidth of the embedded antenna in the leading edges of fighter wings is also more than 45% (VSWR≤2), notwithstanding smaller size of the antenna and the impact of fighter wings. Without GP, the antenna's gains vary from 2.5dBi to 3.5dBi in operating frequency band; the antenna patterns are similar to those of a normal dipole antenna. However, for the embedded antenna, the gains are more than 5.4 dBi, and the patterns vary gently in both principal planes, and at all frequencies.