1304 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO.

2, FEBRUARY 2023

A Wideband High-Gain Dielectric Horn-Lens

Antenna for Wireless Communications
and UWB Applications
Renato Cicchetti , Life Senior Member, IEEE, Valentina Cicchetti, Antonio Faraone , Senior Member, IEEE,
Lars Foged , Senior Member, IEEE, and Orlandino Testa

Abstract— A wideband high-gain dielectric horn-lens antenna increasingly reduced size and weight. Furthermore, the devel-
(DHLA) for wireless communications and ultra-wideband (UWB) opment of high-performance through-the-wall imaging (TWI)
applications, featuring 122% fractional bandwidth, is presented. radar systems [4], [5], ultra-wideband (UWB) radar sensors
The antenna, consisting of a dielectric horn equipped with a
spherical-axicon dielectric lens that increases and equalizes the to detect people buried under building rubbles and snowslips
gain within the operating band, is placed on a PCB featuring [6], remote breath activity monitors [7], as well as short-range
a wideband eight-shaped slot fed by a tapered microstrip line UWB communication devices [8] require advanced antenna
employed to excite the radiating system. The lens, integrated systems to mitigate multipath effect [9] and provide ever
within the body of the dielectric horn, has the property of focusing higher data throughputs, high accuracy localization and track-
the RF energy near its vertex on an extended frequency band,
thus ensuring compact size, excellent field coupling with the ing of objects and people [6], [10], high radiated efficiency,
antenna excitation system, and a significant increase of antenna and ease of use. UWB antennas, characterized by high gain,
gain. The antenna operates in the 3–12.4 GHz frequency range small size, and excellent radiative properties both in frequency
with relatively flat group delay, making it suitable for operating and time domain, play an important role in addressing these
with narrowband, broadband, and impulsive UWB signals. The requirements [11].
antenna can work properly without or with a metal reflector
useful to enhance gain (up to 19 dBi), improve the front-to- While 2-D-type planar microstrip, slot, and spiral antennas
back ratio, and reduce the impact of the antenna characteristics feature low profiles but limited gain and efficiency [11], [12],
from the installation site. CST Studio Suite, implementing a [13], [14], the short backfire [15], [16] and cavity-backed slots
full-wave locally conformal finite integration technique (FIT), antennas [17], [18] exhibit higher gain and larger fractional
was employed to design and characterize the antenna. The bandwidth (FBW), thus providing better low-profile solutions.
antenna characteristics estimated numerically were found to be
in good agreement with the experimental results performed on Even better performances can be provided by dielectric anten-
an antenna prototype. nas (DAs) and dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs), featuring
3-D geometries that offer extra design flexibility [19], [20],
Index Terms— Broadband excitation slot, dielectric horn,
dielectric lens, dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs), Poynt- [21], [22], [23]. DAs and DRAs provide additional interesting
ing vector boundary conditions, spherical-axicon dielectric features, such as the absence of surface-wave losses, high
lens, ultra-wideband (UWB), wideband antennas, wireless radiated efficiency, compact size, and high gain and bandwidth
communications. when properly designed [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26].
I. I NTRODUCTION Hence, they can be usefully employed across the frequency
spectrum, from microwaves [23], [26] to quasi-optical [19],
T HE growing demand for increasingly advanced wireless
communication systems [1], equipment for the Earth’s
subsurface analysis [2], and satellite broadcasting services
[20], [27], and optical frequency bands [28], [29].
A large class of DRA geometries, excitation techniques, and
special design solutions have been proposed in the literature
(BSS) [3] is driving technological progress toward the design
to improve the bandwidth and gain of DAs [23], [25], [30],
of electronic and RF systems characterized by increasing data
[31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37]. For the sake of brevity,
rates, greater energy efficiency, limited system complexity, and
only a limited overview is given here.
Manuscript received 26 October 2022; accepted 10 November 2022. Date Conical-shaped dielectric structures have been used in
of publication 15 December 2022; date of current version 3 February 2023. DRAs characterized by a much wider operating band than
(Corresponding author: Renato Cicchetti.)
Renato Cicchetti, Valentina Cicchetti, and Orlandino Testa are with the more conventional geometries [21]. In [38], cone, split cone,
Department of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunica- truncated, and inverted truncated cone DRAs placed on an
tions, University of Rome “La Sapienza,” 00184 Rome, Italy (e-mail: infinite ground plane have been studied, thus characterizing
[email protected]).
Antonio Faraone is with Chief Technology Office, Motorola Solu- some of their main resonant modes and showing that suitable
tions, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33322 USA (e-mail: antonio.faraone@ mode excitation yields about 50% bandwidths at 1.5 GHz.
motorolasolutions.com). Two flipped-step stair-shaped DRAs of relative permittivity
Lars Foged is with Microwave Vision Italy s.r.l., 00071 Pomezia, Italy
(e-mail: [email protected]). 12, with square and cylindrical cross sections, excited by a
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2022.3228384 narrow slot aperture coupled to a microstrip line, characterized
0018-926X © 2022 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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 CICCHETTI et al.: WIDEBAND HIGH-GAIN DHLA 1305

Fig. 1. Geometry of the horn-lens antenna: (a) 3-D view (the torn truncated cone reflector helps visualize the inner antenna parts) and (b) cross-sectional
view in the yz plane. The reference system adopted in the analysis is also shown.

by an FBW of 49.3% and 32.8%, respectively, with symmet- εr = 5.7) excited by a slot-coupled microstrip line, on which
rical radiation patterns, and average gains of about 6 dBi, a dielectric horn (Teflon εr = 2.1) featuring an annular
have been proposed in [39]. Such wide bandwidths are due perturbation notch to better focus RF energy along the antenna
to the flipped-step contour approximating that of an inverted boresight, while keeping below −10 dB the sidelobe levels
truncated conical DRA. (SSLs), is integrated. The antenna was proposed for 5G
An inverted truncated annular conical DRA for body-area applications in the 28 GHz band as well as for low-cost
network (BAN) applications, realized by means of dielectric satellite and mobile systems.
material of permittivity 9.8, has been proposed in [40]. The Only a few examples of high-gain DAs suitable for
antenna was excited by a capacitively loaded monopole, UWB pulsed applications are reported in [11], [25], [34],
to operate in the lower European UWB frequency band and [37]. Hence, a novel compact, high-gain UWB dielectric
(3.4–5.0 GHz) with 38% of FBW, stable radiation patterns horn-lens antenna (DHLA) consisting of a dielectric horn
similar to that of a monopole with a null along its axis, and equipped with a spherical-axicon dielectric lens is presented
few dB of free-space gain. in this article. The proposed DA achieves 19 dBi peak gain
Further variants of wideband hybrid monopole-DRA have (G min = 9.3 dBi and G max = 19 dBi) in the 3–12.4 GHz
been presented in the literature [41], [42], [43]. In particu- operating band (FBW = 122%), with essentially flat group
lar, impedance bandwidths of about 126% and 138% were delay and well-equalized gain. These performances are related
achieved by the hemispherical monopole-DRA [41] and by the to the lens design, which in receiving mode is shown to focus
stacked conical ring monopole DRA [42], [43], respectively. RF energy near its vertex across the operating band, resulting
A DRA formed by two stacked DRs suitable to radiate in the in broadband coupling to a microstrip-fed slot. A novel eight-
boresight direction has been proposed in [44]. The structure shaped coupling slot geometry is introduced to enable such
is composed of a lower DR (in which the fundamental mode broadband coupling, overcoming the frequency limitations of
HEM11δ is excited) which works as radiator and feeder of the conventional linear or bow-tie slots. The proposed DHLA
upper inverted truncated dielectric conical structure (so allow- covers UWB band (3–10 GHz) completely, featuring higher
ing the excitation of the higher order hybrid mode HEM12δ , antenna gain and flatter group delay compared with DAs
which cannot be excited in a simple cylindrical dielectric currently available in the literature.
resonator (CDR) placed on a ground plane) which works as a The proposed DHLA performances can be usefully
simple radiator. In this way, a dual-mode antenna characterized employed in TWI radar systems [4], for UWB radars [6],
by 12.2% of FBW and 10.3 dBi of maximum gain is obtained. Wi-Fi, WiMAX, WLAN [11], [45], radio communication
A high-gain mushroom-shaped DRA for wideband wireless systems, the Meteorological and Direct Broadcast Satellite
applications, with FBW of 65% ( f min = 4.6 GHz and Applications [3], [46], short-range UWB pulsed communica-
f max = 9.1 GHz), consisting of a low-permittivity hollow tions [9], and remote control of objects and patients [7].
cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (CDRA) integrated This article is organized in six sections. In Section II, the
with a spherical-axicon dielectric lens, was recently proposed antenna geometry is illustrated. In Section III, design guide-
in [27]. The particular shape of lens and reflector yield better lines are described, while in Sections IV and V, the radiative
than 15 dBi realized gain with high front-to-back ratio. The performances of the antenna in frequency and time domain
antenna was proposed for indoor/outdoor wireless communica- are discussed. Finally, concluding remarks are addressed in
tion systems as well as for satellite terminal receivers operating Section VI.
in the so-called 8/7 GHz X-band.
A high-gain DRA, with a realized peak gain of 11.3 dBi II. A NTENNA G EOMETRY
over an FBW of 16.6% around 30 GHz, was presented A 3-D view of the DHLA is shown in Fig. 1(a), while the
in [26]. The antenna consists of a CDRA (PREPERM L570HF yz plane cross section is depicted in Fig. 1(b). The geometrical

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 1306 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2023

TABLE I TABLE II
A NTENNA G EOMETRICAL PARAMETERS S LOT AND PCB G EOMETRICAL PARAMETERS

be remarked that the design aim was to make the antenna

work properly with or without a conical reflector (see Fig. 1)
designed to further increase the antenna gain as well as the
front-to-back ratio.
parameters of the DHLA and the PCB hosting the microstrip-
fed eight-shaped slot with a matching stub are reported in III. A NTENNA D ESIGN G UIDELINES
Tables I and II, respectively. Throughout the design, particular A synthetic description of the design flow used for the
attention was paid to identifying the geometry of the dielectric design and optimization of the proposed antenna is presented
horn used to transfer the RF energy from the PCB slot in this section. The design flow comprised six steps, the first
region (see Fig. 2), through which the antenna receives energy one involving the dimensioning of the dielectric horn used to
from an underlying microstrip feeding line, toward a Teflon transfer RF energy from the microstrip line to the dielectric
spherical-axicon dielectric lens (εrl = 2.1). Such a lens was lens. A low dielectric permittivity material (Eccostock HIK
chosen because its focus region resides near the vertex of εrhorn = 3.5 and tan δ = 0.002) was chosen for the dielectric
its conical portion, thus enabling broadband electromagnetic horn so as to limit its quality factor Q, thus yielding a
coupling with the slot region [27], [47], [48]. wideband behavior. A bow-tie slot was initially chosen to
The horn, made up of high-performance dielectric material excite the horn. To this purpose, the approximate design
Eccostock1 HIK (εrhorn = 3.5, tan δ = 0.002), is shaped in equation in [50] and [51] has been employed
order to attain, in synergy with the dielectric lens, broad- c
band coupling with the tapered microstrip line (character- wslot =  (1)
1+εrhorn
istic impedance Z c = 50 ) used to excite the antenna. 2 f0 2
The microstrip line, printed on a Rogers RO4003C (εr pcb =
where c is the speed of light in vacuum, and wslot is the
3.38, tan δ = 0.0027) dielectric substrate (thickness t pcb =
length of the coupling slot while f0 is the lower slot resonant
0.813 mm), is excited by means of a surface-mount SMA con-
frequency chosen equal to 2.5 GHz to avoid resonant processes
nector. The high electromagnetic coupling between microstrip
within the antenna operating band (3–12.4 GHz). With these
line and antenna feeding slot is achieved via an eight-shaped
values, a slot length wslot  4 cm is obtained. Next, the
slot contour and appropriate tapering of the coupling region
diameter of the dielectric horn was chosen equal to Di =
[see Fig. 2(a)], as well as by a broadband stub used to enhance
4.4 cm so as to cover the coupling slot with its lower surface,
the field levels in the slot region. A small circular metallization
while the height h horn of the dielectric cylinder approximating
(diameter Dhole = 0.40 cm) was removed from the PCB
the horn was calculated using the empirical formula [21], [52]
to compensate for the reactive effects introduced by the
connector [see Fig. 2(a)], as recommended by the connector c 6.324
f min = 
manufacturer [49], thus improving the in-band performance π Di εrhorn + 2
of the connector-to-microstrip transition. Finally, it should     2 
Di Di
× 0.27 + 0.36 + 0.02 (2)
1 Trademarked. 2h horn 2h horn

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 CICCHETTI et al.: WIDEBAND HIGH-GAIN DHLA 1307

Fig. 2. (a) Top and (b) bottom views of the PCB hosting the antenna feed structure and (c) close-up details of the excitation slot. The dashed circle of
diameter Di in (a) corresponds to the dielectric horn base. A metal void of diameter Dhole is realized on the ground plane to compensate for the reactive
effects introduced by the microstrip-connector discontinuity.

where f min has been chosen equal to 3 GHz, coinciding with TABLE III
the lower bound of the UWB spectrum. Using (2), a dielectric TANGENTIAL E LECTRIC F IELD L EVELS IN THE F EED S LOT
cylinder of height h horn = 3.2 cm is obtained.
At this stage, the structure consists of a CDRA whose fun-
damental resonance mode is the HE11δ . To further increase the
antenna band and gain, the size of the upper radiating surface
(diameter Ds ) has been enlarged while maintaining the lower
surface of the DRA (diameter Di ) unchanged, thus realizing
a truncated conical structure. Subsequent optimization, carried
out using the full-wave software CST Studio Suite,1 yielded
the flare angle of the dielectric horn equal to 55.5◦, i.e., higher
than the critical angle (32.3◦), hence in receive mode, the
electromagnetic rays associated with a uniform plane wave
impinging orthogonally to the horn mouth surface, undergo
total reflection at the air–dielectric interface by the side wall
of the horn, thus funneling RF energy toward the slot region.
After optimization, the mouth surface exhibits a diameter Ds
of 8.8 cm.
Table III shows the tangential electric field levels for the
CDRA and the dielectric horn at the center of their respective
bases, i.e., where the antenna excitation slot is, when both are receiving mode). The data in Table III show a significant
excited by a unitary amplitude uniform plane wave striking increase of the field level both with respect to the CDRA
normally their mouths (structures working in receiving mode). and to the dielectric horn, exhibiting about 6.7 dB increase
Clearly, the tapering of the dielectric horn causes the field around 10 GHz (compare field levels in columns 2, 3, and 4).
levels in almost the entire antenna operating band to increase, After completing the design of the horn-lens block, the
the maximum increase being about 4 dB at about 10 GHz (see sizing of the feeding circuit (slot, stub, and microstrip feeding
the field levels reported in columns 2 and 3 of Table III). line) was performed. A preliminary investigation revealed the
After completing the horn design, a spherical-axicon dielec- inadequacy of the bow-tie slot excited by a δ−gap source
tric lens was sized. This kind of lens was chosen because to provide enough margin relative to the −10 dB return loss
it focuses RF energy in proximity of its vertex [47], [48]. threshold, of the UWB band by the horn-lens block developed
This feature makes the lens suitable to be readily integrated in in the foregoing. These limitations led to the development
the dielectric horn, making the radiating structure extremely of a novel eight-shaped geometry for the antenna excitation
compact considering the performance advantages relative to slot (see Fig. 2), having the same length as the bow-tie slot
antennas available in the literature (see Table VI). After an (wslot = 4 cm) in order to have a similar first-resonance
accurate parametric study, a Teflon lens (εrl = 2.1, tan δ = frequency. The slot is symmetrical with respect to the
0.0002), with diameter Dl = 8.8 cm, curvature radius of x− and y−axes (see Fig. 2). In particular, in the first quadrant
the spherical meniscus equal to Rl = 5 cm, and with an of the xy plane, it has a linear profile which is joined, at the
axicon height h c = 2.7 cm, was obtained. Table III shows point (xl , yl ), to a circular one having center in (x c , 0) and
the values of the tangential electric field in the slot region curvature radius Rslot (see Fig. 2). The slot has a narrow waist
when the lens-horn structure is excited by a unitary amplitude sslot useful to allow a strong electromagnetic coupling with
incident uniform plane wave (lens-horn structure working in the microstrip feeding line crossing the slot. The following

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 1308 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2023

Fig. 3. Frequency behavior of the real and imaginary parts of the Z slot Fig. 4. Realized gain versus frequency achieved by varying the diameter Ds
impedance seen by the δ−gap voltage generator exciting the horn-lens of the radiating mouth of the dielectric horn. The diameter of the horn mouth
assembly through the eight-shaped slot. The real part exhibits a fairly stable
yielding maximum bandwidth and gain is Ds = 7.5 cm.
frequency behavior, while the imaginary part is well-bounded and close to
zero, in the desired operating band.

analytical expressions describe the parameters defining the

eight-shaped excitation slot in the first quadrant of the xy
plane:
ρ
1 wslot sin slot + sslot cos ρslot
Rslot = 2 2
(3)
2 1 + sin ρslot
 2 
ρslot sslot ρslot
xl = Rslot cos − cot (4)
2 2 2
ρslot
yl = Rslot cos (5)
2 Fig. 5. Realized gain versus frequency versus the height h sl of the
ρslot
Rslot − sslot
2 cos 2
dielectric horn truncated cone wall. The horn parameter h sl yielding maximum
xc = (6) bandwidth and gain is h sl = 2.2 cm.
sin ρslot
2

where ρslot is the opening angle of the slot (see Fig. 2). The reported in Table II. If the connector is not used, the metal
slot geometry can be drawn readily using (3)–(6). pad and ground removal are not required.
The excitation of the antenna was preliminarily modeled Since the Eccostock HIK dielectric material used to make
using a voltage δ−gap generator placed across the narrow the horn is marketed in cylindrical bars with 7.62 cm maxi-
waist of the eight-shaped slot. After optimization, the input mum diameter, it was necessary to reshape the horn by intro-
impedance Z slot of the δ−gap generator is characterized by ducing a cylindrical section near the dielectric horn radiating
a quite stable frequency behavior of its real part with an mouth in order to ensure its experimental realizability. This
oscillating behavior of its imaginary part around zero resem- required the final tuning of horn and lens parameters. For the
bling a traveling-wave structure behavior, in a wide frequency sake of brevity, only the full-wave investigations of the most
range starting from the first slot-resonance occurring at about significant parameters of the horn-lens structure on the antenna
1.52 GHz (see Fig. 3). gain are reported.
A radial microstrip stub was added to achieve broadband In Figs. 4–6, the frequency behavior of the realized gain
excitation by the microstrip line feeding the slot [see Fig. 2(a)]. achieved by the antenna as a function of the diameter of the
The stub geometry parametric analysis, not reported for the horn mouth Ds , the height of the tapered region h sl (the overall
sake of brevity, reveals that the most critical parameters for horn height h horn is the same obtained during the preliminary
broadband impedance matching are the stub curvature radius dimensioning of the horn), and the permittivity of the dielectric
Rstub and the offset δs . horn εrhorn are reported. In Figs. 7–9, the same parameter is
After an accurate parametric investigation, the parameters shown as a function of the radius Rl , the height of the dielectric
listed in Table II are obtained. A linear tapered microstrip axicon h c , and of the lens dielectric permittivity εrl . After
line, designed to achieve a wideband antenna behavior, was optimization of horn and lens parameters (see Table I), the
employed to connect the stub to a 50  surface mount SMA antenna operating band and gain reached the same levels they
connector equipped with four grounding pins. To compensate exhibited for the larger horn mouth diameter of 8.8 cm.
for the high-frequency reactive effects introduced by the Upon completing the DHLA design, an optional reflector
connector, a circular removal of the metallization of diame- was designed to further increase the antenna realized gain and
ter Dhole near the connector ground and a suitable circular its front-to-back ratio. The frequency behaviors of the realized
metal pad of diameter D pad for the connector RF-hot pin gain achieved by the dielectric horn antenna and by the DHLA,
were realized on the PCB (see Fig. 2), as suggested by the with and without metal reflector, are reported in Fig. 10.
manufacturer [49]. The values of the parameters Dhole and From Fig. 10, it is readily seen that the DHLA equipped
D pad obtained from the numerical optimization process are with the metal reflector provides the best performance. This

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 CICCHETTI et al.: WIDEBAND HIGH-GAIN DHLA 1309

Fig. 6. Realized gain versus frequency achieved by varying the horn Fig. 9. Realized gain versus frequency as the lens relative dielectric permit-
relative dielectric permittivity εrhorn . A significant in dependence on the tivity εrl varies. The commercial value of εrl yielding the best performances
horn dielectric permittivity is observed. in terms of bandwidth and realized gain is εrl = 2.1. A significant influence
on the antenna characteristics by the lens dielectric permittivity is observed.

Fig. 7. Realized gain versus frequency achieved by varying the dielectric lens
curvature radius Rl . The horn parameter yielding the maximum bandwidth and Fig. 10. Frequency behavior of the realized gain achieved by the dielectric
gain is Rl = 5.6 cm. horn antenna and by the DHLA with and without reflector. The best antenna
performance is achieved by the DHLA equipped with metal reflector.

Fig. 8. Realized gain versus frequency achieved by varying the height h c

of the axicon forming the dielectric lens. The value yielding the maximum
bandwidth and gain is h c = 3.1 cm, allowing to cover the entire UWB.
Fig. 11. Prototype of the DHLA equipped with the metal reflector.

happens because the reflector redirects part of the power radi- Araldite XW396/XW397 two-component general purpose glue
ated horizontally by the dielectric horn (see Figs. 15 and 16) (refractive index close to glass) in a ventilated oven at 60 ◦ C
toward the antenna boresight direction, pushing up the antenna for about 90 min. Custom molds were employed for the
realized gain (whose value varies between 9.3 and 19 dBi in antenna assembly.
the 3–12.4 GHz frequency band).
As a final step, a prototype of the proposed antenna
IV. R ADIATIVE P ERFORMANCE OF THE A NTENNA
(depicted in Fig. 11) has been realized for the experimental
verification of the antenna performances. To achieve the max- The frequency behavior of the input reflection coefficient
imum manufacturing accuracy, lens, horn and metal reflector and realized gain achieved by the optimized DHLA in the
were realized using a numerically controlled machine. The 3–12.4 GHz frequency band is shown in Fig. 12. The mea-
Eccostock HIK was processed with diamond blades, while surements were carried out in StarLab multiprobe systems at
the aluminum reflector, after mirror machining, required a the Microwave Vision Group, Pomezia, Italy, operating in the
tin-plated crown near its lower opening to facilitate the solder- 0.8–18 GHz range. The StarLab system features an array of
ing to the PCB made using high-precision photolithography. 23 dual-polarized probes around a circumferential arch. The
Lens, horn, and PCB were glued together using low-viscosity antenna performs a 180◦ spin around the support vertical axis

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 1310 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2023

Fig. 12. Frequency behavior: (a) of the input reflection coefficient magnitude and (b) of the realized gain achieved by the DHLA equipped with the metal
reflector. A good agreement between numerical and experimental results can be observed.

Fig. 13. Tangential electric field excited in the eight-shaped slot: (a) at 5 GHz; (b) at 8 GHz; and (c) at 11 GHz. The dominant electric field polarized in the
y-direction throughout the antenna frequency band ensures excellent radiated field polarization quality. As the frequency increases, the field focuses around
the slot area overlapping the feeding microstrip line.

TABLE IV
F REQUENCY B EHAVIOR OF THE A NTENNA B EAMWIDTH

in order to allow the probe array to collect the total 3-D of the field radiated by the horn-lens antenna, with and without
emission. metal reflector. Such a good polarization quality stems from
The frequency behavior of the antenna beamwidth in ρ = the excellent symmetries of the tangential electric field excited
90◦ (E-plane), ϕ = 45◦ , and ρ = 0◦ (H-plane) cuts is presented in the eight-shaped slot (see Fig. 13) where the microstrip
in Table IV, while the related co- and cross-polar gains, com- feeding line is located.
puted according the Ludwig third definition [53], are reported Finally, the computed and measured radiation diagrams of
in Table V. Table V highlights the excellent polarization purity the antenna at the working frequencies of 5, 8, and 11 GHz,

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 CICCHETTI et al.: WIDEBAND HIGH-GAIN DHLA 1311

Fig. 14. Antenna radiation diagrams. Working frequencies: (a) f = 5 GHz; (b) f = 8 GHz; and (c) f = 11 GHz. Good agreement with the experimental
measurements is observed. Note that due to the antenna symmetry, the cross-polarization levels computed by finite integration technique (FIT) are negligible
in the cut plane ρ = 90◦ .

where different radio systems operate, are shown in Fig. 14. the frequency of 5 GHz by a 50  voltage generator of unit
These frequencies have been chosen as Wi-Fi and WLAN amplitude, are reported in Fig. 15.
systems operate around 5 GHz, while Meteorological and These maps highlight the focusing processes of the RF
Direct Broadcast Satellite Applications are supported at energy due to horn, lens, and reflector, as well as the diffraction
8 and 11 GHz, respectively [3], [46]. As can be observed, the processes occurring on the edges of reflector and slot used to
agreement between numerical simulations and the experimen- excite the horn-lens dielectric group. The continuous character
tal measurements is remarkably good. of the normal component and the discontinuous one of the
To illustrate the physical behavior played by the different tangential component of the Poynting vector can be observed
metal and dielectric structures forming the antenna, maps of at the air-horn, horn-lens, and lens-air interface regions. In par-
the real part of the Poynting vector in the yz plane, excited at ticular, the Poynting vector discontinuities seem more evident

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 1312 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2023

TABLE V
C O - AND X-P OLAR G AIN C OMPONENTS W ITHIN M AIN B EAM (E-P LANE , ρ = 45◦ , AND H-P LANE )

Fig. 15. Spatial distribution of the Poynting vector real part in the yz plane: (a) for the horn antenna; (b) for the horn antenna with reflector; (c) for the
DHLA; and (d) for the DHLA with reflector. Source parameters: Vg = 1 V and Z c = 50 . Working frequency f = 5 GHz. The RF focusing process due
to lens and reflector, as well as the Poynting vector discontinuity across the dielectric interfaces [see details in the exploded view of (c)] and the diffractive
processes at the edges of reflector and the excitation slot, is illustrated.

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 CICCHETTI et al.: WIDEBAND HIGH-GAIN DHLA 1313

TABLE VI
C OMPARISON B ETWEEN THE P ERFORMANCE OF THE P ROPOSED A NTENNA W ITH T HOSE AVAILABLE IN THE L ITERATURE

Fig. 16. Spatial distribution of the Poynting vector real part in the yz plane for the DHLA with reflector. Source parameters: Vg = 1 V and Z c = 50 .
Working frequency: (a) f = 8 GHz and (b) f = 11 GHz. The RF focusing process due to the lens and the reflector is evident, as well as the reduction of
spurious emission by the excitation slot and the formation of energy vortices inside the lens and near the edge of the reflector as the frequency increases.

on the horn external surface [see details in the exploded the dielectric horn is not just the lens mechanical support;
view of Fig. 15(c)], their level being related to the dielectric rather, it plays a key role in routing the RF energy toward the
contrast, as illustrated in Appendix A. Furthermore, said maps lens, increasing antenna gain and drastically reducing the back
show how the unwanted energy flow emitted in the direction radiation, as verified by a separate analysis not reported here
parallel to the PCB [see Fig. 15(a) and (c)], responsible of the for brevity.
antenna backscattering (caused by diffraction from the PCB
edge), is considerably reduced by the reflector which redi- V. T IME -D OMAIN A NTENNA R ESPONSE
rects the RF energy toward boresight [see Fig. 15(b) and (d)]. Many UWB pulsed applications (see [7], [9], [54]) depend
This behavior is increasingly pronounced as the frequency on the antenna coverage of the 3–10 GHz frequency band with
increases, as can be seen from the maps in Fig. 16. Hence, limited distortion of the radiated/received signals. In addition,

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 1314 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2023

Fig. 17. Time-domain electric field response computed at 1 m from the lens surface in: (a) xz plane (ρ = 0◦ ) and (b) yz plane (ρ = 90◦ ), when the antenna
is excited by a Gaussian fifth-derivative incident waveform with maximum amplitude 1 V. Low ringing level and rapid angular decay away from boresight
are observed. For illustration purposes, successive angular behaviors are offset from each other.

high antenna-gain helps increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)

and significantly improve the communication range and detec-
tion sensitivity. Hence, besides the frequency-domain charac-
teristics illustrated in the foregoing, a time-domain analysis is
required to evaluate ringing, signal distortion, and rise and fall
time behaviors for UWB pulsed waveforms [55].
An UWB signal having a time profile identified by the fifth
derivative of the Gaussian pulse, with variance σ = 51 ps and
a peak value equal to 1 V, was used as the antenna excitation
signal. This signal allows satisfying the requirements in terms
of equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) proposed by
the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
for indoor UWB communications [56].
The time-domain behaviors of the electric field radiated by Fig. 18. Frequency behavior of the relative group delay computed along the
antenna boresight direction. Extremely low values of the relative group delay
the DHLA evaluated in the xz and yz planes at a distance of are observed in the entire operating band even if the antenna equipped with
1 m from the antenna are shown in Fig. 17. metal reflector exhibits higher parameter fluctuations caused by the diffractive
As seen, the radiated field exhibits low ringing levels and effects occurring on the metal reflector rim. In both cases, the radiated signal
is predominantly emitted within a ±30◦ angular sector with experiences low distortion.

respect to the antenna boresight axis. These features make

the proposed antenna particularly useful in indoor/outdoor to the diffractive processes taking place on the metal reflector
wireless communications, TWI applications, as well as in rim.
short-range high-security communications operating in dense Finally, in Fig. 19, an example of a short-range UWB
multipath environments. communication (Tx–Rx distance 1 m) between two DHLAs
The excellent time-domain antenna response is confirmed equipped with metal reflector as the Rx pointing angle varies
by the frequency behavior of the relative group delay com- is reported. A received signal having a shape similar to that of
puted along the antenna boresight (see Fig. 18). Extremely the signal radiated by the Tx antenna is observed in an angular
low values of the relative group delay are observed in range of about ±10◦ with respect to the Tx antenna boresight.
the entire operating band even if the antenna equipped The high quality of the received signal in this angular range
with metal reflector exhibits higher parameter fluctuations is confirmed by the system fidelity factor (SFF) [57], whose
caused by the diffractive effects occurring on the metal values are equal to 96.5% (97.9% without reflector) for θ = 0◦ ,
reflector rim. and 95.0% (95.9% without reflector) for θ = 10◦ , while a
Electric field peak levels of the order of 5.2 V/m are lower signal quality is observed for θ = 20◦ where the SFF
excited at 1 m in the boresight direction, while peak values drops to 53.7% (56.0% without reflector). The rapid angular
of about 0.34 V/m are observed at the same distance in the decay of the level and quality of the received signal, due to
rear of the antenna. Furthermore, a higher ringing level is the high directivity exhibited by the DHLA (see time-domain
observed when the antenna is equipped with the reflector due diagrams in Fig. 17), ensures a strong reduction of multipath
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 CICCHETTI et al.: WIDEBAND HIGH-GAIN DHLA 1315

Fig. 19. Time-domain behavior of the signal received by the matched Rx antenna placed at a distance of 1 m as its pointing angle varies: (a) θ = 0◦ ;
(b) θ = 10◦ ; and (c) θ = 20◦ . Tx antenna excited by a Gaussian fifth-derivative incident waveform having maximum amplitude 1 V and variance σ = 51 ps.
The received signal shows a waveform very similar to that of the signal radiated by the Tx antenna in the angular range ±10◦ (see Fig. 17), where the
parameter SFF exhibits values of 96.5% and 95% for θ = 0◦ and θ = 10◦ , respectively.

effects and environmental noise, as well as high-security short- properties (with/without electric J and magnetic J m surface
range UWB communications within the angular range ±10◦ . currents) is synthetically described. To this end, the boundary
A detailed comparison between the proposed antenna and conditions describing the behavior of its normal and transverse
those in the literature with similar characteristics is reported in components across a dielectric interface are derived.
Table VI (where N.P. stands for not provided in its reference
article), illustrating that the proposed antenna features higher A. Poynting Vector Normal Component Boundary Condition
gain and at least twice the FBW of other UWB pulsed oriented
ones, in a comparatively compact electrical size. As depicted in Fig. 20(a), a pillbox is located at an
In conclusion, the particular characteristics exhibited by the arbitrary point r at the interface [local reference system
proposed antenna find potential applications in communication (v 1 , v 2 , v 3 ), metric coefficients (h 1 , h 2 , h 3 ), and unit-vectors
or sensing systems operating in the time or frequency domain. (û1 , û2 , û3 = n̂)].
By evaluating the Poynting vector flux through the pillbox
surface and noting that the volume integrals involving finite
VI. C ONCLUSION
conductivity materials and stored electromagnetic energy in
A novel high-gain DHLA for wideband wireless communi- the pillbox volume V vanish in the limit of l3 → 0, we obtain
cations and UWB applications, featuring 122% FBW, has been 
presented. The antenna consists of a low permittivity dielectric n̂ · ( P 2 − P 1 )d S
horn equipped with a spherical-axicon dielectric lens, used to S0
 
increase and equalize the gain within the antenna operating 1 E t1 + E t2 1 H ∗t1 + H ∗t2
=− · J ∗d S − · Jmd S
band. The lens, characterized by a focus stable in frequency 2 S0 2 2 S0 2
and close to its vertex, achieves broadband coupling with a (A1)
novel eight-shaped slot through which a tapered microstrip
transmission line excites the radiating horn-lens structure. yielding
   
The antenna can operate with an optional metal reflector 1 E t1 + E t2 ∗ 1 H ∗t1 + H ∗t2
designed to further increase the gain and reduce SSLs and n̂ · ( P 2 − P 1 ) = − ·J − · Jm
2 2 2 2
the back radiation, thus making the antenna characteristics (A2)
independent of the installation site. The proposed antenna
exhibits a realized peak gain of 19 dB (at 11.9 GHz) when where “∗” represents the complex conjugate operator, while
it is equipped with a metal reflector (17.3 dB without metal the subscript “t” denotes the tangential components of the E
reflector at 11.4 GHz) and presents extremely low values of and H fields, with respect to the normal n̂ = û3 at the interface
the relative group delay that make it suitable for operating surface (oriented from the first to the second medium). Hence,
with harmonic and impulsive UWB signals. Thanks to its the Poynting vector normal component is continuous in the
intrinsic characteristics and the low cross-polarization levels, absence of surface currents at the interface.
the proposed antenna can be successfully employed in wide-
band terrestrial and satellite communications, RF sensing, TWI B. Poynting Vector Tangential Component Boundary
applications, and high-security short-range UWB communica- Condition
tions. Experimental measurements performed on a prototype
Referring to the closed integration path in Fig. 20(b), the
were found to be in very good agreement with the full-wave
flux of the Poynting vector curl is evaluated through the
numerical results.
surface S in the (û2 , û3 ) plane having normal unit-vector û1 .
Applying the identity
A PPENDIX
The Poynting vector P discontinuity across the interface û1 · ∇ × P = ∇ · ( P × û1 ) + P · ∇ × û1 = ∇T · ( P × û1 )
between dielectric media having different electromagnetic (A3)

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 1316 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2023

Fig. 20. Integration domains used to derive the Poynting vector boundary conditions across a dielectric interface: (a) for the normal component and (b) for
the tangential component of the Poynting vector.

where ∇T · (·) denotes the surface divergence operator [58] solutions of guiding or radiating structures, at dielectric inter-
in the generalized coordinates (v 1 , v 3 ), and integrating over S faces or in the excitation region, for scatterers and antennas.
results in
 
1
  ACKNOWLEDGMENT
û1 · ∇ × Pd S = ∇T · E × H ∗ × û1 d S. (A4)
S 2 S The authors are grateful to Carmine Liberati and Guglielmo
Using Stokes’ theorem, expanding the vector product within Ressa for the support given in the accurate realization of the
the integrand appearing in the right-hand side of (A4), yields prototype of the antenna presented in this article and Andrea

1  Faruolo for the support provided for the measurements of the
t̂ · Pdl = ∇T · E u 1 H ∗T − Hu∗1 E T d S (A5) antenna parameters.
s 2 S
where t̂ is the unit-vector along the close-path bounding
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 1318 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2023

Renato Cicchetti (Life Senior Member, IEEE) was Lars Foged (Senior Member, IEEE) received the
born in Rieti, Italy, in 1957. He received the Laurea M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the
degree (summa cum laude) in electronics engineer- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA,
ing from the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” USA, in 1990.
Rome, Italy, in 1983. He has been a Board Member and a Teacher with
From 1983 to 1986, he was an Antenna Designer the European School of Antennas (ESOA), since
with Selenia Spazio S.p.A. (now Thales Alenia 2006. He is currently the Scientific Director of the
Space S.p.A.), Rome, where he was involved in Microwave Vision Group, Pomezia, Italy. He has
studies on theoretical and practical aspects of anten- authored or coauthored more than 300 journal arti-
nas for space application and scattering problems. cles and conference papers on antenna design and
From 1986 to 1994, he was a Researcher, and measurement topics. He contributed to five books
from 1994 to 1998, he was an Assistant Professor with the Department and standards, and holds four patents.
of Electronics Engineering, University of Rome “La Sapienza,” where he Mr. Foged was a member of the EURAAP Delegate Assembly and respon-
is currently a Full Professor. In 1998, 2002, and 2006, he was a Visiting sible for the Working Group on Antenna Measurements from 2009 to 2012.
Professor with the Motorola Florida Corporate Electromagnetics Research At EUCAP conferences, he was the Vice-Chair in 2011 and 2022, an Industrial
Laboratory, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA, where he was involved with antennas Chair in 2012, 2014, and 2017, and a Technical Program Chair in 2016 and
for cellular and wireless communications. His current research interests 2021. Since 2004, he has been the Secretary of the IEEE Antenna Standards
include electromagnetic field theory, asymptotic techniques, electromagnetic Committee. In 2016 and 2017, he led the Industry Initiatives Committee
compatibility, wireless communications, microwave and millimeter-wave inte- (IIC), a standing committee of IEEE APS. He was a recipient of fellow and
grated circuits, and antennas. Distinguished Achievement Award of AMTA.
Mr. Cicchetti is a Senior Member of the Italian Electromagnetic Society
(SIEm) and his results listed in Marquis Who’s Who in the World and
Who’s Who in Science and Engineering. Since 2012, he has been the Lead
Editor of the annual special issue on Wideband, Multiband, Tunable, and
Smart Antenna Systems for Mobile and UWB Wireless Applications for the
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation. From 2017 to 2021, he
was one of the coordinators of the research project “Ultra-Wideband Virtual
Imaging Extra Wall for High-Penetration High Quality Imagery of Enclosed
Structures” (U-VIEW) funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University
and Research (MIUR).

Valentina Cicchetti was born in Isernia, Italy,

in 1993. She received the master’s degree (cum
laude) in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree
from the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Rome,
Italy, in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
Her research interests include applied electromag-
netics, wideband and ultra-wideband antenna sys-
tems, and the analysis of the related electromagnetic
compatibility problems.

Antonio Faraone (Senior Member, IEEE) was born

in Rome, Italy, in 1966. He received the Ph.D. degree
in applied electromagnetics from the University of
Rome “La Sapienza,” Rome, in 1997. Orlandino Testa received the Laurea degree (cum
He joined the Motorola (now Motorola Solu- laude) in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree
tions Inc.) Corporate Electromagnetic Energy (EME) from the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Rome,
Research Laboratory, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA, Italy, in 1997 and 2003, respectively.
engaging in mobile antenna technology and RF Since 2001, he has been a high school Teacher
dosimetry research, as well as the IEEE and IECRF with the ITIS “G. Armellini” Institute of Rome,
exposure safety and product compliance standards. Rome, where he is involved in teaching electronics
At Motorola Solutions Inc., he serves as the Chief and telecommunications. He is currently collaborat-
EME Scientist, over-seeing product RF exposure compliance, and is a Scien- ing with the Department of Electronic Engineering,
tific Advisory Board Associates (SABA) Member, a Master Innovator, and a University of Rome “La Sapienza.” Currently, he is
Dan Noble Fellow. He has coauthored 37 refereed journal publications and studying high-frequency models for near- and far-
holds 39 patents, mostly on antenna technologies. field synthesis, design of dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs) equipped with
Dr. Faraone currently holds the chairs of Board of Directors of the Mobile lens for communication, and through-the-wall imaging (TWI) applications.
and Wireless Forum, an international industry association supporting research His research interests include propagation and radiation of electromagnetic
into RF health and safety and promoting wireless device integrity and fields, electromagnetic compatibility, microwave and millimeter-wave inte-
accessibility. grated circuits, and antennas.

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