Tightly Coupled Dipole Array with Wideband Differential Feeding Network

Differential RF front-end components provide greater immunity to ground noise and distortion by suppressing external interference. Recent advancements in differential RF front-end components offer high dynamic range, high input linearity, and low noise in the transceiver chain. However, differential phased arrays are not inherently ultra-wideband (UWB). To create a wideband differentially fed array for chip-integrated transceivers, a novel approach was taken on the well established UWB Tightly Coupled Dipole Array (TCDA). This differential TCDA (D-TCDA) is proposed for S-Ku band (3-18 GHz) communications with emphasis on dual linear polarization and wide-angle scanning. The array achieves 6:1 bandwidth for VSWR < 3 at broadside with scanning down to 45 from boresight in both E and H planes. The array exhibits very low cross-polarization, on the order of 70 dB.