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Design of Vivaldi Antenna with Wideband
Radar Cross Section Reduction
N. Rajesh, K. Malathi, S. Raju, V. Abhai kumar, S. Deepak
Ram Prasath and M. Gulam Nabi Alsath
Abstract— In this communication, radar cross section (RCS)
reduction of Vivaldi antenna is achieved with structural
modifications. This is realized by removing a portion of the metal
from the radiator and implementing periodic slots adjacent to the
radiating edge. These slots reduce the perpendicular reflections
from the radiator, which causes reduction of the monostatic RCS.
The proposed Vivaldi antenna operates from 4 GHz to 12 GHz
with 10 dB additional RCS reduction when compared with the
reference Vivaldi antenna. The prototype is fabricated and its
performance is validated using measurements.
Index Terms— antenna scattering, radar cross section (RCS),
stealth antenna, ultra wideband (UWB) antenna
I. INTRODUCTION
R ADAR cross section is an important and challenging
aspect of stealth antenna design since the reflections from
the antenna surface are proportional to the radar signature.
These electromagnetic reflections in the perpendicular
direction increase the chances of object detection and hence
the radar signature. Efficient stealth design requires that the
reflections from the antenna’s surface are minimized or
scattered in undesired directions without disturbing the
antenna’s radiation performance. Several active and passive
RCS reduction techniques are reported in the literature. The
RCS performance is improved through structural
modifications in the radiator; creating defects in the ground
plane and having additional layers of metal that provide phase
cancellation. Wideband RCS reduction is achieved by
removing the metal portions of the radiator that carry
minimum surface current as reported in [1]-[2]. Periodic
resistive elements are implemented in the radiating aperture
and the RCS is reduced by absorption in [3]. Partially
reflecting surfaces (PRSs) are used in [4] to absorb the
incident waves. Frequency selective surfaces (FSS) are used
beneath the antenna ground plane in [5] to reduce the radar
signature. Passive cancellation technique with polarization
conversion material is introduced in [6] to divert the
reflections to other directions. The combination of artificial
magnetic conductor and perfect electric conductor is
implemented in [7] to achieve RCS reduction without
establishing 180 o phase shift between the two reflecting
surfaces. PIN diodes are used to reduce RCS in [8]-[9]. The
backscattering is reduced in grazing directions by sleeking the
edges of the antenna as reported in [10]. Other RCS reduction
techniques include photonic band gap structures [11], bionic
principle based tentacle antenna [12], and substrate integrated
waveguide technique [16], [20]-[21]. Various RCS related
analyses were performed in [12]-[15]. To reduce monostatic
RCS, phase cancellation techniques using frequency selective
surfaces have also been reported in [17]-[18].
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1
From the literature, the RCS of an antenna is reduced
through two techniques, viz. active cancellation and passive
cancellation. Active cancellation technique includes active
elements that require biasing networks. In a way, they also
increase the antenna complexity. On the other hand, passive
technique includes structural modifications in the radiator,
modification in the substrate, and on the ground plane. These
modifications may alter the impedance and the radiation
performance of the antenna. The RCS reduction technique
should preserve the radiation characteristics. Tapered slot
antennas (TSAs) are widely used as stealth antenna because of
their superior characteristics like wide bandwidth, planar
implementation, and simple configuration while implemented
as an array. In this communication, the RCS of an antipodal
Vivaldi antenna is reduced without using additional layers. To
achieve this, object shaping method is used to remove the
metal portions, which are the least contributors of radiation
[1]-[2]. For further RCS reduction, periodic slots are
introduced along the tapering profile of the antenna to divert
the induced currents. Periodic slots along with structural
modification result in reduction of RCS across the bandwidth.
All the simulations reported in this manuscript are carried out
using CST microwave studio.
This paper is organized as follows. Section II explains the
design of the reference antenna and the proposed antenna with
the necessary parametric study. Section III outlines the
measurement setup for monostatic RCS and the calibration
procedure. Results and discussion are illustrated in section IV
and section V presents the conclusion and future scope of the
research work.
II. THE PROPOSED ANTENNA DESIGN
The schematic of the reference antipodal Vivaldi antenna is
shown in Fig. 1. The antenna is constructed using a 1.6 mm
thick FR 4 substrate with dielectric constant 4.3 and loss
tangent 0.025. The antenna is excited using a 50 Ω SMA
connector. The exponentially tapering profile of the antenna
edges causes radiation. The reference antenna has an
impedance bandwidth of 7.7 GHz.
Fig.1. Layout of reference antipodal Vivaldi antenna with L= 60 mm, W= 40
mm, h= 1.6 mm, w1= 3.2 mm. (Gray color metallization denotes the ground
plane and blue metallization denotes the radiator).
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RCS of the antenna (σ) is governed by structural mode (σs)

and antenna mode (σa) components, given in equation (1)
obtained from [3],. Where, Φ is the phase difference between
these two components. Perpendicular reflections from the
radiator produce structural mode RCS. Improper terminations
result in increased antenna mode RCS. In the proposed work,
RCS of the antenna is reduced by minimizing the structural
mode component.
jΦ 2
σ = | σs - (1+Γa) σa e | ----- (1)

Surface current distribution of the reference antenna in

radiation mode is given in Fig. 2. From the figure, it is
observed that more surface current is present at the inner
exponential profile when compared with the outer edges.
Using the object shaping method, the outer edges of the
radiator are removed to reduce the reflections (back scattering)
from its planar surface.
4 GHz 8 GHz
Fig. 2. Surface current distribution of the reference Vivaldi antenna.
Fig.4. Simulated reflection coefficient characteristics of the proposed antenna
A. Effects of introduced slots on the antenna
performance
The geometry of the slot and its orientation should not
disturb the radiation characteristics of the antenna since the
radiation is mainly from the inner exponential profile.
Therefore, parametric analysis is carried out to observe the
impact of the slot diameter on the reflection coefficient and
RCS performance of the antenna. From Fig. 3, it is observed
that an increase in slot diameter affects both the performance
metrics of the antenna. From the analysis, it is evident that the
RCS performance of the antenna is improved by using slots
with larger diameter at the cost of reflection coefficient
characteristics. The reflection coefficient characteristics are
preserved even after incorporating the modifications to the
antenna, which is evident from Fig. 4. The lower cutoff
12 GHz frequency of the proposed Vivaldi antenna is reduced from 4.3
GHz to 4 GHz when compared with the reference antenna.

Reflections from the antenna could be reduced by directing

the induced current away from the radiator. To obtain this,
periodic slots are introduced along the exponential profile of
the radiator as the current distribution is concentrated close to
the inner exponential profile of the antenna. Also, the periodic
slots penetrating the substrate divert the induced current away
from the desired direction. The circular slots measuring d = 2
mm are introduced at a distance of 2 mm away from the inner
profile of the antenna.

Fig. 5. The proposed performance enhanced Vivaldi antenna. (L=60 mm,

Fig.3. Parametric sweep of the reflection coefficient and monostatic RCS
(showing radiation characteristics) for different slot diameters.
W=40 mm, w1= 3.2 mm, d= 2 mm (slot diameter), d1= 3 mm (distance
between the slots), r1= 8 mm, and h= 1.6 mm (Slots introduced in the
substrate also).
The design of low RCS antenna has the tradeoff between
RCS and other radiation characteristics such as radiation
pattern and antenna gain. Since the reflection coefficient
characteristics are undisturbed, the modifications done so far
are taken for final fabrication. The final antenna structure and
the optimized layout parameters are given in Fig. 5.

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III. MEASUREMENT SETUP
RCS measurements are done inside an anechoic chamber
and the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 6. The
transmitting and receiving horn antennas are isolated and the
proposed Vivaldi antenna is placed at the far- field distance
from the horn antennas. The horn antennas are pointed
towards the planar surface of the proposed Vivaldi antenna.
The two horns are co- located such that the angle between the
transmitting and receiving horn is minimum for monostatic
measurement. The separation between the horn antennas
should be larger for bi-static RCS measurement.
Fig. 6. Experimental setup for RCS measurement.
The transmitting horn is pointed towards the planar surface
of the radiator and the reflections from the Vivaldi antenna are
collected by the receiving horn. The measured RCS of the
antenna in the perpendicular direction is taken for different
frequency intervals and given in Fig. 7.
Reference antenna Proposed antenna
3 GHz 4 GHz
5GHz 6GHz
Fig.7. RCS as a function of Phi (in the perpendicular direction) for the reference
and the proposed Vivaldi antennas.
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3
From the figure, it is evident that the proposed
modifications divert the induced current away from the
receiver. It provides RCS reduction of 10 dBsm when
compared with the reference antenna along the main beam
direction. Measurements are carried out only up to 6 GHz due
to the unavailability of test antennas. Radiation pattern
measurements are performed using standard gain horn
antennas. Fig. 8 shows the principal pattern along the E - plane
and H -plane at discrete frequency intervals. The pattern in the
E- plane almost coincides with the reference antenna in the
entire operating bandwidth.
Reference antenna Proposed Antenna
4 GHz (E Plane) 8 GHz (E Plane)
12 GHz (E Plane) 4 GHz (H Plane)
8 GHz (H Plane) 12 GHz (H Plane)
Fig.8. Measured radiation pattern of the proposed antenna against the
reference antenna.
The proposed modification has a minimal impact on the
antenna gain, which is evident from Fig. 9. The variations in
the gain levels are acceptable while the RCS of the antenna
derives paramount importance. Gain at 3 GHz is very low
since the magnitude of the reflection coefficient is more than -
10 dB. The intended bandwidth from 5 GHz to 12 GHz almost
has similar trends.
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TABLE I
COMPARISON OF RCS PERFORMANCE OF THE PROPOSED ANTENNA

REF BANDWIDTH DIMENSIONS SUBSTRATE PEAK RCS REDUCTION

(GHZ) ( mm2) MATERIAL OBTAINED

[2] 8 - 12 25 × 20 TF 2 8 dB throughout the

bandwidth

[10] 2 - 14 120 × 80 2.2 wideband reduction for

oblique incident angles

[11] 3.6 - 10.4 100 × 60 2.65 30 dB at 7 GHz

[16] 6 - 14 40 × 20 Rogers Peak reduction of

Fig. 9. Gain comparison of the proposed Vs reference antenna. 24 dB

[19] 8 - 12 18 × 14 FR 4 13 dB at Ө = 60 degree,
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 19 dB at Ө = 75 degree

RCS reduction must ensure low observability for all the [20] 5 - 14 44 × 20 Rogers 35 dB at 7 GHz
incident angles. To substantiate this, plane wave is uniformly
excited onto the surface of the antenna and the responses for
different incident angles are calculated through simulations [21] 3.8 - 12 50 × 45 Rogers 3 dB throughout
and given in Fig. 10. When the angle of incidence is increased bandwidth
ᵒ ᵒ ᵒ
from Ө = 0 to Ө = 30 , Ө = 45 , the port (observer/receiver) This 4 - 12 60 × 40 FR-4 10 dB reduction
becomes closer to the antenna surface, which increases the Work throughout bandwidth
RCS. The Proposed Vivaldi antenna provides a minimum RCS
reduction of 10 dB at oblique incidences.

REFERENCES

Fig.10. Monostatic RCS of the antenna at oblique incident angles.
RCS performance of the proposed antenna is compared with
other Vivaldi antennas reported in the literature and given in
Table I. Implementation of this method does not require any
additional layers and simple structural modifications are used
to achieve wideband RCS reduction.
V. CONCLUSION
An antipodal Vivaldi antenna is designed and structural
mode radar cross section is reduced without using additional
layers. The proposed antenna provides minimum RCS
reduction of 10 dBsm throughout the operating band without
disturbing the radiation characteristics. The gain of the
antenna ranges between 2.3 dBi and 6.3 dBi, which are almost
equal to the gain of the reference antenna. The proposed
antenna is suitable for stealth applications where low
observability is the main concern.
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TAP.2017.2670566, IEEE
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