Analysis of wideband tapered element phased array antennas

A phased array of wideband tapered elements, such as the tapered slot and bunny-ear element, offer wide-band wide-scan capability for radar, EW, and communication applications. The analysis of infinite arrays of linear tapered slot antenna has been published by Cooley, Schaubert, Buris, and Urbanik (see IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol.AP-39, no.11, p.1615-1624, 1991). An experimental study of a wide-band bunny-ear element has been reported by Lee and Livingston (see IEEE AP-S International Symposium, Ann Harbor, MI, p.1604-1607, 1993). Although many interesting features have been observed for the bunny-ear element, there has not been a theoretical analysis on this element. The paper presents an analysis method based on the Green´s functions for horizontal and vertical elemental dipoles over a ground plane in a periodic unit cell. The solution is formulated for the general two-dimensional tapered element in an infinite phased array environment using the Green´s functions derived by Lee and Chu (1991). A computer program has been developed, and its results have been validated with the examples given by Cooley et al. The modeling results of the phased array of bunny-ear elements as described are also presented.<>