Log-periodic antenna design using electromagnetic simulations

Log-periodic (LP) antennas are important because of their ability to show nearly frequency independent characteristics over wide bands of frequencies, although they have relatively simple geometries. It is essential to complement theoretical antenna design recipes with the numerical results obtained from electromagnetic simulations. We demonstrate the benefit of such a hybrid procedure using the design of an LP antenna as a case study. It is shown that significant performance improvements can be obtained by applying corrections suggested by the simulation results. Arrays of LP antennas can also be designed and analyzed in an electromagnetic simulation environment. Design of arrays made up of several LP antenna elements can be achieved by coupling electromagnetic solvers to optimization methods, such as genetic algorithms.