Coplanar Side-Fed Tightly Coupled Ultra-Wideband Array for Polar Ice Sounding

We describe a planar ultrawideband (UWB) dual-polarized tightly coupled bowtie antenna array for ground-based polar ice-sounding radar. The array operates over 180-620 MHz with a bandwidth ratio of 3.4:1. The broadband performance is benefitted from the tightly coupled antenna elements. By carefully integrating the impedance matching network into one arm of the bowtie antenna and using a ferrite core for common-mode suppression, this coplanar side-fed array avoids the use of vertical balun and external antenna matching network. The size of the full array is 2.8 m x 2.8 m with a weight of only 90 kg, including 24 power distribution boards and 288 feed cables. The thickness of the array is 12.7 cm, which is only about 0.08 lambda at the lowest operating frequency. This antenna array was deployed to Greenland in summer 2019 as a part of a surface-based UWB ice-sounding radar to measure and characterize the Greenland ice sheet.

Automated summary

This paper presents a planar ultrawideband dual-polarized tightly coupled bowtie antenna array for ground-based polar ice-sounding radar, with a bandwidth ratio of 3.4:1. The array is compact, lightweight, and features excellent common-mode suppression.