A wideband multiple beam array for communication and DF applications

In certain communication applications it is desirable to have multiple sectoral coverage over a wide frequency band. The candidate antenna must have a wide impedance bandwidth and its radiation pattern should preferably remain constant over the desired band. In addition, to reduce then coupling and crosstalk, the radiation pattern should not have large side and back lobes. These properties are also desirable for DF applications, where the wideband operation eliminates the need for multiple antenna configurations and a graceful gain reduction in the azimuthal plane enhances the accuracy for the angle of arrival determination. An antenna operating on the principle described here was fabricated and tested over the 1-10 GHz band. It performed as expected, with some gain reduction at high frequencies due to monopole elevation pattern breakup in the horizontal plane.<>