Miniaturized Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna With Resistance‐Based Tapered Radiator

ABSTRACT This Letter presents the design, investigation, and verification of a compact short pulse radar antenna for close‐range pulsed radar imaging applications. An in‐depth study is conducted on the resistively loaded antipodal Vivaldi antenna (RLAVA) by varying the slope of its exponentially tapered radiating element, and the resulting pulse response is meticulously analyzed in the time domain. To determine the most effective design, a newly defined evaluation criterion (EC) is introduced. Utilizing this EC, the proposed prototypes are explored from a time domain perspective. Additionally, a resistance‐tapered formula is successfully implemented to conventional antipodal Vivaldi antenna (CAVA), leading to a size reduction of approximately 50% compared to conventional antennas of equivalent physical length.