Wideband Tightly Coupled Dipole Arrays With Balanced Scattering and Radiation Based on a Black-Box Method

A key challenge in the new generation of advanced phased arrays is to realize wideband and wide-scanning performances while maintaining lower scattering characteristics. In this paper, a black box method (BBM) is proposed for accelerating balanced optimization of radiation and monostatic scattering characteristics of an antenna element in an infinite periodic environment. To validate the method, a common tightly coupled dipole array (TCDA) with unbalanced feed scheme is considered. Besides, the indium tin oxide (ITO) film is introduced to further improve the wide-angle scanning and monostatic scattering reduction abilities. Finally, a 10 × 10 single-polarized TCDA prototype with ITO film is fabricated and measured. Measured results are in good agreement with simulation results and demonstrate that the TCDA has a balanced radiation and scattering characteristics, such as an active VSWR <; 3.0 over 7 - 18 GHz while scanning up to 60° in E-/H-plane and a broadband monostatic scattering reduction.