U-shaped bow-tie magneto-electric dipole antenna with a modified horned reflector for ultra-wideband applications

A novel U-shaped bow-tie magneto-electric dipole unidirectional antenna with a dual-layer horned reflector for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications is proposed. To broaden impedance bandwidth, a U-shaped bow-tie electric dipole structure with two notch slots is presented. In addition, to reduce the size of the antenna and improve impedance matching, a new feeding structure designed with perforation and tapered line is introduced. Finally, a double-layer horned reflector, instead of a ground plane, is employed to improve radiation patterns and gains for high-rate data transmission. The prototype antenna can achieve a stable gain of 10 ± 1.2 dBi and an impedance bandwidth of 118% for standing wave ratio ≤ 2 from 2.81 to 10.92 GHz. To the best of the authors knowledge, it is the first U-shaped bow-tie magneto-electric dipole unidirectional antenna for UWB applications. The proposed antenna, which possesses the advantages of UWB antenna and magneto-electric dipole antenna simultaneously, can be easily fabricated with low cost. With these features, it is a practicable candidate for UWB communications.