3D Miniaturization Method and its Application to a Wearable Vivaldi Antenna

Abstract

This work describes an antenna miniaturization method that utilizes meandering in the third dimension. The radiator of the antenna is designed on a corrugated substrate. Semi-cylindrical, triangular, and rectangular corrugations are tried. The method is applied to an Ultra-wideband Vivaldi antenna. The antenna is proposed to be 3D printed on IBT, a flexible and biocompatible resin, for the first time in the literature. By this method, three different miniaturized Vivaldi antennas are designed, and up to 22.1% reduction in the volume is achieved.