Compact wideband array with side- lobe control

A low-profile, wide-band antenna array with side-lobe control is presented. The array consists of tapered slot elements fed by a planar microstrip power divider. The power divider incorporates two- dimensional amplitude tapering through a series of unequal T- junctions which gives side-lobe levels of -20 dBi. The number of elements in the array is 8 by 8, and it operates from 12 GHz- 18 GHz. Measured results show that the array has high gain and low side-lobe levels over the entire operating frequency. The methodology involved in designing this array is useful and can be extended to create arrays for radar applications as well as for communication systems.