A Cylindrical Antenna With a Conductively Loaded Slot for Broadband Imaging Radar Applications

A cylindrical antenna with a conductively loaded slot (CACLS) is designed for broadband imaging radar applications. Through design considerations, such as conductive loading, cylinder termination, and the insertion of an electromagnetic (EM) wave absorber into the cylinder, the proposed CACLS is shown to be able to radiate temporally short and nondispersive pulses. Based on the final design of the antenna, parametric studies pertaining to the time-domain radiation performances depending on the dimension of the cylinder are performed. The CACLS with the determined design parameters is then fabricated and its performances verified through antenna measurements and a radar experiment. In addition to its excellent pulse radiation and reception performance, the realized antenna has a compact and physically robust structure, which makes it potentially suitable for many broadband imaging radar applications.