A Flexible Ultra-Wideband Vivaldi Phased Array Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications

The article presents a full co-planar ultra-wideband Vivaldi phased array antenna for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. The article presents a full co-planar ultra-wideband Vivaldi phased array antenna, which is designed with a 0.0254mm thick flexible polyimide (PI) dielectric substrate. The antenna array has the advantages of wideband, large angle scanning, easy attachment, and light weight. The central antenna unit of the 1×8 array can achieve a large angle scanning of ±45° in the 2-8GHz range under HFSS simulation. The size of the 1×8 array antenna unit is 58.3mm×23mm. The proposed antenna is fed by a coaxial to CPW transition, can be manufactured by one layer PCB technology, which makes it convenient to attach to the UAV wing. The antenna has a prospect application in UAV detection radars.