Antipodal UWB Vivaldi Antenna with Pseudoelement and Notched Flares for 2.5-57 GHz Applications

Novel methods of improving directivity and decreasing sidelobe radiation via the addition of an elliptical pseudoelement and irregularly-spaced notches in the tapered slot antenna are presented in this paper. This antenna has been shown to be functional over the C, X, Ku, K., Ka, and portions of the Sand V bands covering 2.5 - 57 (22.8:1 bandwidth) GHz. Minimum and maximum realized gains of 5.2 and 15.2 dBi were achieved at 2.5 and 32 GHz., respectively. As compared to other Vivaldi antennas reported in the past, the proposed design offers a larger bandwidth while providing 3-4 dBi higher gain in the majority of the band.