Design of a planar UWB dipole antenna with an integrated balun using surrogate-based optimization

A design of an ultrawideband (UWB) antenna with an integrated balun is presented. A fully planar balun configuration interfacing the microstrip input of the structure to the coplanar stripline (CPS) input of the dipole antenna is introduced. The electromagnetic (EM) model of the structure of interest includes the dipole, the balun, and the microstrip input to account for coupling and radiation effects over the UWB band. The EM model is then adjusted for low reflection over the UWB band by means of fast simulation-driven surrogate-based optimization. This approach allows us to obtain the final design at low computational costs and at a high-fidelity level of structure description. Measurements of the manufactured optimal design validate the use of the balun as well as the design approach.