Design and performance of wideband dual polarized stripline notch arrays

The design and performance of a half-populated (HP) and a fully-populated (FP) wideband 8*8 dual polarized aperture is presented. Both apertures utilize arrays of flared slotline (stripline notch) elements optimized or isolated element performance. The array-element performance and active VSWR (virtual standing-wave ratio) are shown for both aperture designs. For a 70 degrees conical scan, the HP aperture restricts grating lobes up to 10 GHz. The FP aperture restricts grating lobes up to 21.5 GHz in azimuth and elevation, and up to 15.2 GHz in the E- and H-plane with a +or-70 degrees scan. This lattice spacing determines the allowable element width for a given element thickness in the isolated element design. The HP aperture provides better array-element performance than that of the FP aperture. The FP aperture has tighter coupling and a lower active VSWR with less variation across the scan volume than the HP aperture.<>