A new wideband end-fire Magneto-Electric dipole antenna

In this paper, an end-fire antenna has been designed for forward and rear vision in airborne radar applications. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility of end-fire Magneto-Electric dipole antenna with good bandwidth, stable gain and low cross polarization. A new kind of end-fire Magneto-Electric dipole antenna, composed of a planar electric dipole and a shorted patch has been designed and fabricated. Being different from conventional broadside Magneto-Electric dipole antenna, this antenna has been excited by Z shaped feed line to impart end-fire radiation pattern. A wide impedance bandwidth of 23.9%, with 8.5dBi peak gain and 8.7dBi peak directivity has been achieved for the frequency range 12.2GHz–15.5GHz. Antenna efficiency of 90% and low cross polarization level for entire range of operation has also been observed. The antenna also exhibits low side lobe radiations and almost identical E plane and H plane radiation patterns in the given frequency range. The antenna has a wide potential for various airborne applications in Ku band.