An 1.7–2.7 GHz all-weather broadband High-gain antenna with W-shape reflector for maritime communications

•An all-weather broadband high-gain antenna for maritime communication applications is developed from the perspective of hydrodynamics, hydrostatics, and electromagnetic performance.•A fixed aperture method is proposed to evaluate the gain bandwidth of the reflector independently from the radiating aperture of the antenna.•A W reflector is proposed for the three dipoles array and its equivalent antenna. The W reflector reaches a 150% 3-dB gain bandwidth theoretically, which is 53% and 90% larger than the gain bandwidth of the classic planar reflectors and the corner reflectors, respectively.•Two prototypes based on wideband high efficiency electromagnetic structure, with the use of a director and a W reflector, are devised. The two W reflectors are manufactured as continuous sheet and by rods, respectively. The proposed antennas realize 10-13dBi gains in a 45% bandwidth.•The proposed antenna is devised to be light weight, small wind loading, high mechanical strength, small size, low cost, lightning-strike resistant, and consistent coefficient of thermal expansion, without the need of any radome. The anti- deformation property of the proposed Antenna II is demonstrated to be 3.8 times higher than that of the classic Yagi antenna to be used in an open-ocean environment with a typhoon of force 12.