Impulse Radiating Antenna With Six Feeding Arms and a Tapered Balun

We present a design of reflector impulse radiating antenna (IRA) with six feeding arms and a printed tapered balun that also provides broadband matching to a
$50 ~\Omega $
system. The design is obtained by thorough numerical analysis and optimization. Six feeding arms provide a lower input impedance while maintaining the same boresight gain in comparison to an IRA with four arms. By placing the balun in the antisymmetry plane of the antenna, boresight gain is practically intact and the resulting antenna construction is rigid. In order to increase the power handling for continuous-wave excitations, the resistors between the arms and the reflector are omitted yielding an antenna that can handle at least hundreds of watts. The compromises that arise when omitting the resistors are discussed. The results are verified by comparing the measurements of the fabricated prototype to the results obtained by the numerical analysis.