Design and simulation of compact UWB Bow-tie antenna with reduced end-fire reflections for GPR applications

The efficiency of the ground penetrating radar (GPR) system significantly depends on the antenna performance as signal has to propagate through lossy and inhomogeneous media. In this research work a resistively loaded compact Bow-tie antenna which can operate through a wide bandwidth of 4.1 GHz is proposed. The sharp corners of the slot antenna are rounded so as to minimize the end-fire reflections. The proposed antenna employs a resistive loading technique through a thin sheet of graphite to attain the ultra-wide bandwidth. The simulated results obtained from CST Microwave Studio v14 and HFSS v14 show a good amount of agreement for the antenna performance parameters. The proposed antenna has potential to apply for the GPR applications as it provides improved radiation efficiency, enhanced bandwidth, gain, directivity and reduced end-fire reflections.