Design of a wideband espar antenna for DVB-T reception

Abstract

The design of an optimized Wideband Electronically Steerable Passive Array Radiator (W-ESPAR) antenna, for Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T) reception, is proposed. A genetic algorithm is used in order to calculate the positions and lengths of antenna elements (structural parameters) and loading conditions (control parameters). A nine-element W-ESPAR antenna with one element active and eight passive can have one directive beam per channel, with mean gain of 9 dBi, reflection factor less than 0.2 and input impedance around 75 Ohms. Computer simulations have shown that one main lobe may be achieved in the same direction and for all UHF channels, from 470 MHz to 890 MHz. The analytical results for the design are provided, and they show that the proposed W-ESPAR antenna is suitable for portable DVB-T reception.