In this paper, a compact wideband tightly-coupled dipole antenna array has been developed. Dipole elements are placed in the triangular lattice to reduce the side lobe level in the radiation pattern of one of the planes. To obtain the initial dimensions, 1-D infinite array analysis of the proposed array is carried out. The infinite array is designed to operate in 5–14.3 GHz (96.3% impedance bandwidth) frequency band. The antenna array can be used in C and X band applications. Inter-element coupling is utilized to achieve ultra-wideband performance in the proposed array. A 2 × 8 elements finite array is designed with the feed network. An ultra-wideband parallel strip to microstrip transition is used to feed the array elements. A metallic shielding for the feed network helps in reducing the back lobes. The overall size of the array with the reflector and the feed network is 148 mm × 224 mm × 54.5 mm. To validate the proposed concept, the antenna array is fabricated and tested. Impedance bandwidth of 2.8:1 along with broadside radiation pattern throughout the band of interest is observed.
