Ultra Wideband Planar Microstrip Array Antennas for C-Band Aircraft Weather Radar Applications

Abstract

A miniaturized ultra wideband (UWB) planar array antennas for C-band aircraft weather RADAR applications is presented. Firstly, the effect of the ground plane is studied. Later, the realization and experimental validation of the geometry that has an UWB characteristic are discussed. This array antennas is composed of a twenty-four radiating element that is etched onto FR-4 substrate with an overall size of 162×100×1.58 mm3 and a dielectric constant of ϵr=4.4. The results show that this miniaturized array antennas gives us a bandwidth which is about 115% and a gain greater than 13 dB which are required in aircraft weather radar applications.