Dual-band balanced antipodal dipole-slot antenna

Design concept of a novel, dual-band balanced antipodal ultra-wideband antenna is proposed. The antenna is composed with a symmetrical dipole and balanced tapered slot radiators and can be directly integrated with differential microwave circuits. Operation principle and performance of the antenna, such as return loss, radiation patterns and gain, are simulated and analyzed. As will be presented, the impedance bandwidth of the antenna is from 2.4-2.5 GHz and 5.1-12 GHz. Stable omnidirectional and quasi-directional radiation patterns over the operation bandwidth can be achieved. This antenna should be useful for dual-band WLAN, 5.8 GHz-band Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and European-standard UWB applications.