Investigation on a 77-GHz broadside Vivaldi antenna

Vivaldi antennas are excellent radiating elements that provide high gain and wide bandwidth. However, due to their end-fire radiation pattern they are not suited for the integration in printed circuit board (PCB) technology, if a broadside radiation is required. This paper presents a modified Vivaldi antenna loaded with a periodic arrangement of metallic strips that allows to achieve a broadside radiation pattern. Good agreement is obtained between the full-wave simulation results and the experimental data in terms of impedance matching, gain and radiation pattern.