Recent topics in Ultra-Wideband Antennas

Abstract

We study here three topics in Ultra-Wideband Antennas. First, we consider a standard for characterizing antenna performance in the time domain, We develop a single time domain function, called antenna impulse response, which fully describes antenna performance with equations that are as simple as possible in both the frequency and time domains. Next, we survey the available large UWB antennas, primarily consisting of variations of Impulse Radiating Antennas. These consist of a reflector and a wideband feed, and are capable of nearly two decades of bandwidth; or a 100:1 band ratio. Finally, we review the status of time domain UWB antenna ranges, which can be used to characterize both wideband and narrowband antennas in both the time and frequency domains. Such systems also measure the impulse response of an antenna.