Improvement and Optimization of Thin Dipole for UWB Applications

In this paper, thin dipole is investigated in the 3.1-10.6 GHz Ultra-Wide Band frequency range. The study includes the design of half wave dipole antenna with different dipole radii to improve the antenna characteristics. Antenna parameters including return loss, Voltage Standing Wave Ratio, -10 dB bandwidth and radiation pattern are examined according to Federal Communication Commission regulations and Ultra-Wide Band system requirements in this frequency range. Additionally, two optimization techniques, Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization are applied to obtain the best dipole radius. CST Microwave Studio, an electromagnetic simulation program, is used for the design of the antenna structure and the simulation purposes. The simulation is performed in transient mode. The results show that the antenna performance can be improved by selecting the suitable antenna dimensions. Additionally, Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization techniques are compared in terms of time consumption to obtain the best VSWR and return loss values. The results also depict that Genetic Algorithm yields better results for the proposed structure.