A BROADBAND OMNIDIRECTIONAL ANTENNA ARRAY FOR BASE STATION

A high gain wideband antenna array with an omnidirectional radiation pattern is presented for base station. The antenna array is composed of four elements and a circular four-way power divider. The proposed planar antenna element consists of four pairs of arc dipoles and a balun, which can achieve a better impedance match and a wider frequency range. Furthermore, the conductor ground of the power divider with a larger size than the element is placed under the four antennas, which can also enhance the peak gain. The antenna array is simulated, fabricated and measured. The measurement results show that the proposed antenna array can achieve a bandwidth from 1.62 GHz to 2.43 GHz or a relative bandwidth of 39.4%. The antenna array has a peak gain of 6.4-7.2 dBi in the work band and obtains a radiation efficiency of 88%. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna array is a good candidate as a base station antenna for GSM, PCS, and UMTS applications.