Modified Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna for Infrastructure Health Monitoring Techniques

Abstract

In this paper a modified antipodal Vivaldi antenna with frequency range of 0.65 GHz - 2.6 GHz is presented to be used for Infrastructure Health Monitoring (IHM) techniques. The proposed antenna offers high gain and directive radiation patterns at operating bandwidth. The feasibility of the designed antenna for IHM is investigated by modeling a 500-mm cubic concrete block with an air gap representing a crack or a place for the location of sensors for IHM. The results show that the proposed antenna is capable to provide the detection of 5-mm air gap or to transmit microwave power to the gap with thickness up to 35 mm inside the concrete block.