A Novel Miniaturized Log-Periodic Vee-Dipole Antenna Based on 2-D-Folded Structure for UltraWideband (UWB) Applications

This paper presents a miniaturized Log-Periodic Vee-Dipole Antenna (LPVDA) that incorporates 2D-folded Vee-dipole structures for a compact and efficient design. Utilizing Vee bending and miniaturization techniques based on curved current paths, the proposed design achieves a reduction of over 50% in element size compared to conventional LPDAs, while maintaining stable polarization characteristics and consistent radiation patterns. The optimization of element spacing and the exploitation of coupling effects further enhance the active VSWR performance across the array. A 10×26 slant-polarized LPVDA array was fabricated and tested, operating within the 0.38 – 2 GHz frequency range with ±15° azimuth scanning capability. The measured active VSWR is below 2 over most of the frequency band, with a maximum of 3. Experimental results confirm that the introduction of the Vee structure not only improves miniaturization efficiency but also introduces an additional design parameter, making it well-suited for cost-effective wideband antenna systems, especially for applications with large element spacing and sparse array optimization requirements.