A Comprehensive Review On Tightly Coupled Dipole Arrays

The rapid expansion of commercial applications will continue to add wireless congestion in the available electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). Consequently, operating frequencies are becoming increasingly spread across a wider portion of the spectrum. Inevitably, there is suboptimal resource utilization, when multiple narrowband antennas operate independently. To address this challenge, ultra-wideband (UWB) arrays offer a compelling alternative by consolidating multiple frequency bands into a single aperture. This approach can greatly reduce the total size, weight, power and cost (SWAP-C) of the system. Notably, traditional tapered volumetric arrays have high profiles and lack conformality. Alternatively, the tightly-coupled dipoles arrays (TCDAs) have emerged as the leading solution, due to their extremely low-profiles, high efficiency, cross-polarization purity and low-angle scanning capabilities. This paper provides a comprehensive review on TCDAs, offering an in-depth analysis of their operating principles and state-of-the-art implementations, from the early 2000s to the present day.