A Compact Low-Cost and Lightweight 3-D Printed Horn Antenna for UWB Systems

In this paper, we demonstrate a 3-D printed compact and lightweight horn antenna suitable for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications. The antenna has dimensions of 7.8 cm
$\boldsymbol{(0.13\lambda_{0})\times 3.7\text{cm}(0.06\lambda_{0})\times 4.5}$
cm
$\boldsymbol{(0.08\lambda_{0})}$
, where
$\boldsymbol{\lambda_{0}}$
refers to the lowest operating frequency. The weight of the antenna is only 23 gm. The horn geometry is constructed by nickel spray coating on a 3-D printed PLA (Polylactic Acid) supporting structure. This makes the antenna extremely lightweight and low-cost. The antenna covers a bandwidth of 0.5-3.5 GHz. Although the gain of the antenna crosses 0 dB after 2.4 GHz, it is quite significant (~5 dB) at around 3.5 GHz. A prototype of the antenna was fabricated and tested which showed good agreement with simulations.