IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 17, NO.

2, FEBRUARY 2018 247

Vivaldi Antenna With Pattern Diversity for 0.7 to

2.7 GHz Cellular Band Applications
Yuandan Dong , Senior Member, IEEE, Jun Choi, Member, IEEE, and Tatsuo Itoh , Life Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—This letter describes a planar ultrawideband Vivaldi rate [16]. The LTE standard covers a wide range of many differ-
antenna for base-station pattern diversity applications. It is de- ent channels. There are around 40 WWAN/LTE bands world-
signed to cover most of the cellular and LTE bands, a very wide wide for the 2G/3G/4G communication standards, mainly from
frequency range from 0.7 to 2.7 GHz. It is formed by two adjacent 0.7 to 2.7 GHz. GPS bands, including L1 and L2, are also among
Vivaldi tapered slots with a rotated angle of 29° between them. The
this frequency range. To meet this strong demand for broadband
antenna is miniaturized by sharing some common structure and
cutting the noncritical board area. It is designed step by step from
and multiband services from mobile users, it would be desired
a single Vivaldi element with a microstrip line feeding to a dual- to have multiband and diversity antennas on both the handset
slot pattern diversity radiator with uniform radiation patterns. It devices and base station.
is fabricated and tested inside a near-field chamber. The radiation This letter investigates a novel UWB antenna covering the
performance, including both in-phase and 180° out-of-phase differ- cellular frequency range, from 0.7 to 2.7 GHz, for base sta-
ential feeding cases, is verified by simulation as well as experiment. tion and other special applications. It is able to provide pattern
The measured results show good agreement with the simulation. It diversity across the entire band. To achieve relatively uniform
could be useful for base station and other smart array systems. radiation patterns, a Vivaldi-type slot antenna is employed in
Index Terms—Base station, cellular band, pattern diversity, ta- the design. Vivaldi antennas have been widely studied due to
pered slot antenna, ultrawideband (UWB) antenna, Vivaldi an- its unique features [17]–[23]. Different from traditional UWB
tenna. monopole antennas, it is able to generate endfire radiation with
low sidelobes in an extremely wide frequency range. It has a low
I. INTRODUCTION profile and provides good radiation efficiency. The proposed an-
IVERSITY antennas on the transmitter and the receiver tenna is composed of two tapered slots where a portion of the
D can effectively increase the capacity of wireless links by
introducing new channels, and therefore provide more reliability
common areas is overlapped for size reduction. It is carefully
designed from a single Vivaldi element. Its radiation perfor-
for the communication systems [1]. Most of the current smart- mance is verified through both simulation and measurement. It
phones have at least one diversity antenna to ensure the wireless shows better than −10 dB matching from 0.7 to beyond 2.8 GHz
connection even under electromagnetically harsh environment with good isolation and pattern diversity performance across the
[2], [3]. There are various diversity antenna types [1]–[15], such entire frequency range.
as pattern diversity, polarization diversity, and spatial diversity.
Applications that utilize diversity antennas include the mobile
phones [2], [3], base station [4], [5], radars [6], ultrawideband II. SINGLE VIVALDI ANTENNA DESIGN
(UWB) systems [7], [8], and satellite communication systems To obtain uniform radiation patterns across the whole cellular
[9], etc. While abundantly utilized, antenna diversity is gaining frequency (0.7–2.7 GHz), the Vivaldi-type tapered slot antenna
more and more popularity fueled by the development of wireless that could provide bandwidth up to several octaves is selected
communication systems for LTE/smartphones and Internet of here. When output slot width (ws) is no less than a half of a wave-
Things. Capabilities and limitations of the multimode wideband length, the tapered slot is able to provide good matching. It is
diversity antenna in an array environment are discussed in [10]. a traveling-wave-type broadband antenna with endfire radiation
LTE is the global standard of the fourth-generation cellular patterns. The designed single-element antenna model is shown
wireless communication. Recently, LTE Advanced and carrier in Fig. 1(a). A 20 mil (0.508 mm) Rogers RT/duroid 5880 board
aggregation, which use shared spectrum, have also been pro- with a dielectric constant of 2.2 is selected for the design. To re-
posed and started implementation to further increase the data ceive UWB response, a broadband excitation is required on the
feeding side to match the tapered-slot radiating structure. The
Manuscript received July 15, 2016; revised September 21, 2016 and De- original Vivaldi antenna uses a quarter-wavelength open stub
cember 7, 2017; accepted December 8, 2017. Date of publication December passing the slot for the feeding microstrip line, and the slot is ter-
14, 2017; date of current version February 5, 2018. (Corresponding author: minated with a quarter-wavelength short circuit on the left side
Yuandan Dong.) of the feeding line [18]. However, the bandwidth is limited since
Y. Dong is with the School of Electronic Engineering, University of Elec-
tronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China (e-mail: both of the quarter-wavelength stubs are frequency-dependent.
[email protected]). Later, open radial stub is used for the microstrip line to extend
J. Choi is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University at the bandwidth [21]. The quarter-wavelength short-circuited slot
Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). can be replaced with a circular slot cut with a diameter of one
T. Itoh is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of
California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA (e-mail: itoh@ee.
quarter-wavelength at the center frequency to further broaden
ucla.edu). the bandwidth [21]. Since quarter-wavelength open stub is sim-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2017.2783323 ilar to short circuit based on the transmission line theory, the

1536-1225 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
248 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 17, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2018

Fig. 1. (a) Proposed single Vivaldi antenna. (b) Its radiation pattern at four
different frequencies (0.8, 1.3, 1.8 and 2.6 GHz). Main antenna parameters are:
ws = 145 mm, l s = 232 mm, t = 2.4 mm, r = 12.3 mm, exponential taper’s
opening rate is 26.97.

Fig. 3. Proposed final Vivaldi antenna with pattern diversity. Main antenna pa-
rameters are: a = 260 mm, b = 254 mm, l = 19 mm, w = 2.5 mm, θ = 29◦ ,
t = 4 mm, c = 72.4 mm, taper’s opening rate is the same as before, 26.97.

Fig. 2. Simulated |S 1 1 | for the single Vivaldi antenna with different (a) dis-
tance between via and slot: t, and (b) radius of the circular slot cut: r.

microstrip feeding line here is directly terminated with a short-

ing via to work as a frequency-independent quarter-wavelength
open stub. It reduces the length of the microstrip feeding line
and connects the input signal line to the ground, which also
Fig. 4. (a) Vivaldi antenna with two radiation slots before size reduction:
facilitates the antenna integration, which will be explained later. in-phase feeding case, (b) final antenna structure after miniaturization: 180°
Fig. 1(b) confirms the uniform endfire radiation pattern at dif- out-of-phase case.
ferent frequencies. Fig. 2 shows the different |S11 | with respect
to the change of the via position (distance to the slot) and radius
of the circular slot cut. These are the main design parameters
that determine the matching and bandwidth. Our study shows,
when the via is close to the slot, the antenna functions better as
a frequency-independent open-circuit quarter-wavelength stub
and provides lower return loss. The working frequency range
is mainly determined by the length and width of the slot aper-
ture. Note that here the antenna starting frequency is higher than
0.7 GHz because later we found that after combining two Vi-
valdi slots with a larger aperture size, the starting frequency can Fig. 5. Simulated S-parameters for the proposed antenna with different length
be pushed to a lower frequency. This allows reducing the size of the slot cut between the two vias. (a) |S 1 1 | and (b) |S 2 1 |.
of the single element.
between the two Vivaldi slots at lower frequency, a rectangular
III. VIVALDI ANTENNA WITH PATTERN DIVERSITY FOR cut is added between the two vias. Next, we removed noncritical
CELLULAR BAND APPLICATIONS board area as shown in Fig. 4 for further size reduction. It
A. Antenna Configuration should be noted that by combining the two elements together,
the electrical length of one slot metal edge (shared side) has
The proposed Vivaldi antenna with pattern diversity is shown been extended, which decreases the starting working frequency.
in Fig. 3. It consists of two Vivaldi slots with a rotated angle (θ) Cutting the other side of the slot would slightly impact the
of 29° between them. To miniaturize the size, we first shared the matching and radiation at lower frequencies instead of changing
half-plane of the two Vivaldi elements with the same circular slot the operating range, which is mainly controlled by the longer
cut. The two vias at the end of the feeding lines are placed next slot edge.
to each other. Since the circular slot cut appears as an open end
to the slot and the two vias are grounded, which quickly convert
B. Simulated Results
the power to the slot, sharing them would not lead to significant
increase of the coupling, which is much better than the original Fig. 5 shows a parameter study by changing the length of
quarter-wavelength open stub. To further improve the isolation the slot cut between the two vias. A value of 19 mm has been
DONG et al.: VIVALDI ANTENNA WITH PATTERN DIVERSITY FOR 0.7 TO 2.7 GHz CELLULAR BAND APPLICATIONS 249

Fig. 8. Fabricated Vivaldi antenna: front view (left) and back view (right).

Fig. 6. Simulated radiation patterns for the proposed Vivaldi antenna with
(a) in-phase excitation, (b) 180° out-of-phase excitation.

Fig. 9. Measured S-parameters, compared with simulated data.

of 2.2 is used as the substrate board. Since it is relatively soft,

if desired, the antenna can also be mounted on curved surfaces.
The tested and simulated S-parameters are shown in Fig. 9. Good
UWB response has been confirmed. The isolation is better than
10 dB from 0.7 to 1.5 GHz. It is better than 18 dB above 1.5
GHz.
To verify the pattern diversity performance, a 180° hybrid
Fig. 7. Simulated (a) antenna peak gain and (b) total radiation efficiency for coupler is used as the feeding network. The part number is
in-phase and 180° out-of-phase input feedings, and (c) simulated and measured Anaren 3A0055, which has an operating range from 1 to 2 GHz.
differential- (Sdd) and common-mode (Scc) reflection coefficients. It could provide 3 dB in-phase and 180° out-of-phase outputs.
The radiation performance was tested inside an NSI near-field
selected, which provides a balance between good matching and chamber. A narrow band rectangular waveguide WR770 (oper-
isolation. As shown, the antenna can be operated starting from ating from 0.96 to 1.5 GHz) is used as the testing probe. The
0.7 GHz with |S11 | lower than −10 dB. When excited indepen- two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) radiation
dently, the two elements would generate endfire radiation along patterns are shown in Figs. 10 and 11. Excellent pattern di-
their slot direction with an angle around 29° between the two versity performance is observed and verified. For the in-phase
main beams. As indicated in Fig. 4, when fed with in-phase excitation at 1 GHz, the antenna demonstrates a tested gain
signals, the antenna could have x-axis-polarized wave with two and efficiency of 7.4 dBi and 78%, respectively. For the out-
beams pointing to two lateral sides. While it is excited with of-phase case, they are 4.05 dBi and 80%. At 1.4 GHz, the
180° out-of-phase signals, the whole antenna would generate measured antenna gain is 8.3 and 6.5 dBi for the in-phase and
y-axis-polarized wave with a single directive beam pointing to- out-of-phase excitations. Their radiation efficiency is measured
ward the x-direction. Fig. 6 shows simulated radiation patterns as 74% and 78.5%, respectively. The losses from the testing
at four different frequencies for in-phase and out-of-phase ex- cables and hybrid are all included in the measurement, which
citation. At higher frequency, more wavelength variations can results in slightly lower efficiency compared with simulation.
be observed across the whole slot, indicating a bigger aper- Although only tested at 1 and 1.4 GHz, the proposed antenna
ture size and higher antenna gain compared with the case of should be able to work from 0.7 to 2.8 GHz according to the
lower frequency scenario. Fig. 7 shows the simulated antenna simulation. It covers most of the cellular/LTE bands including
gain and total radiation efficiency for in-phase and out-of-phase the two GPS bands. It is very suitable for base station appli-
feedings, as well as the calculated differential- (Sdd)/common- cations where the beam can be tilted up or down (single-fed
mode (Scc) reflection coefficients using the equation explained case), boresight direction (out-of-phase case), and bilateral di-
in [24]. Lower efficiency from 0.7 to 0.9 GHz is mainly due to rection (in-phase case). This pattern diversity feature could also
the deteriorated Sdd and Scc. be used for monopulse application, where the maximum and
minimum radiation can be observed in the boresight direction
for the out-of-phase mode and in-phase mode, respectively. It is
C. Experimental Verification
also applicable in certain transponders where the device needs to
A photograph of the fabricated antenna is displayed in Fig. 8. transmit and receive signals from different directions. It is noted
Rogers 5880 with a thickness of 20 mil and a dielectric constant that to further reduce the sidelobe level, some special techniques
250 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 17, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2018

simulation and measurement. It could also be applied in

transponder devices and monopulse systems.

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