A Wideband Dipole Antenna Design for Through-the-Wall Imaging on Security Applications

Abstract

This study proposes a dipole antenna with wideband characteristics for microwave imaging (MWI) applications. The wide-band characteristic of the antenna is achieved by reshaping the geometry of the conventional dipole. The dipole is fed by a specially designed balun, together with a ground reflector in order to obtain a high gain unidirectional pattern. The antenna is operating from 2.7 to 5 GHz with a maximum realized gain of 8.39 dBi and |S 11 | less than -10 dB within this frequency band. The simulation results and evolution of the design procedure are provided. Furthermore, a throughthe-wall MWI scenario consisting of thirteen antenna elements, a concrete wall, and two hidden objects behind the wall is implemented to evaluate the performance of the antenna. The 2-D reconstruction results obtained from inversion methods indicate that the proposed antenna is a potential candidate for throughthe-wall MWI applications.