Conception and optimization of a bidirectional ultra wide band planar array antennas for C-Band weather radar applications

This paper presents an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) microstrip planar array antennas for weather RADAR application which covers the C-Band. The proposed array antenna is composed of T-junction power divider which has a role to divide the power equally to all antenna elements. This array is etched onto a FR4 printed circuit board with an overall size of (162 × 100 × 1.58) mm3 and dielectric constant er = 4.4. The main objective of this work is to design a directive array antennas with a bidirectional radiation patterns to cover a long distance space vertically to the antennas radiating surface. Substrate type, partial ground technique and the geometry of the array antennas are the key words for the desired band (UWB) with a high gain and bidirectional radiation pattern. The proposed array antenna is able to achieve an impedance bandwidth about, it will provide a high gain which are required in various radar applications. Ansoft's High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) and Computer Simulation Tool (CST) softwares are used to simulate and compare the different radiation characteristics of this array.