A Balanced Impulse Radiating Omnidirectional Ultrawideband Stacked Biconical Antenna

A compact symmetric discone antenna for the 3 GHz to 20 GHz frequency range is demonstrated. The antenna design is optimized for a good transient response with low angular dependency. This property reduces antenna distortions and simplifies antenna de-embedding. The design is based on the well-known biconical antenna, which has been radically enhanced with different geometric features. Far field modal analysis has been used for both the development and the verification of the concept that ensures a constant radiation pattern. A prototype of the balanced antenna with an improved feeding mechanism based on two separate discone antennas together with a three-port balun is also presented. Measurements in the time and in the frequency domain have been performed in order to characterize the antenna. Overall, the results show significantly improved impulse responses and input matching compared to a standard biconical antenna. Therefore, the new antenna is very well suited for advanced channel characterization, reference measurements, and system verifications.