Development of Balanced TCDA for MFAs

Multifunctional arrays (MFAs) are widely used in RF sensing, radar, and communications applications. Advancements in packaging technologies, high data rate converters, and ultra-wideband (UWB) RF electronics have enabled the proliferation of such systems. Another key enabler of the MFA is the advent of powerful electromagnetic software that allows for the design of novel UWB array apertures. In this paper, we present a new addition to the tightly coupled dipole array (TCDA) family of UWB array apertures. The presented balanced TCDA retains higher bandwidth, lower costs, better polarization purity, and lower volumes than current aperture solutions.