A Wideband End-Fire Conformal Vivaldi Antenna Array Mounted on a Dielectric Cone

The characteristics of a novel antipodal Vivaldi antenna array mounted on a dielectric cone are presented. By employing antipodal Vivaldi antenna element, the antenna array shows ultrawide bandwidth and end-fire radiation characteristics. Our simulations show that the cone curvature has an obvious influence on the performance of the conformal antenna, in terms of both the bandwidth and the radiation patterns. The thickness and permittivity of the dielectric cone have an effect on the bandwidth of the conformal antenna. Measurement results of both single antenna and conformal antenna array show a good agreement with the simulated results. The measured conformal antenna can achieve a -10 dB vertical bar S-11 vertical bar with bandwidth of 2.2-12GHz and demonstrate a typical end-fire radiation beam. These findings provide useful guidelines and insights for the design of wideband end-fire antennas mounted on a dielectric cone.