Mutual coupling in an array of Vivaldi antennas with wide instantaneous bandwidth

Future antenna arrays in radar systems will require wide instantaneous bandwidths. As a result, the mutual coupling in these arrays will need to be characterized in the time domain rather than by the traditional narrow band steady state approaches used today. This paper presents results of time domain mutual coupling investigation of a wideband linear Vivaldi array. It is shown that the coupling effects between the elements distort the signal to some extent; however for moderately wideband signals this array can provides reliable signal transmission/reception with minimal dispersion.