A Compact Dual-Band Single-Feed Slotted Waveguide Array Antenna for Unidirectional Radiation Patterns
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: A dual-band slotted waveguide array (SWA) antenna is designed using a single waveguide by placing the radiating slots for 18 and 24 GHz on the same antenna aperture. These bands are excited using a single excitation point through a conventional waveguide feeding technique to radiate unidirectional radiation patterns of the same polarization. Theoretical analyses are carried out to study the conductance of the slots to understand their effects on the dual-band performance. Numerical analyses are performed to optimize the antenna by considering mutual coupling. The antenna is fabricated using stereolithography (SLA) and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) processes to compare its performance in different additive manufacturing techniques. In characterizing the fabricated prototype, an impedance matching of$|S_{11}|\lt -10$dB and the boresight antenna gains of 14 and 17.4 dBi are measured in these bands with unidirectional and linearly polarized radiation patterns. A quantitative comparison among dual-band SWA antennas is presented at the end of this article to highlight the uniqueness of the proposed approach over the state-of-the-art solutions.
Institutions: Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire des Sciences et Techniques de l’Information de la Communication et de la Connaissance, IMT Atlantique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Rennes, Institut d'Électronique et des Technologies du numéRique, Université de Rennes, Thales (France), Thales Alenia Space (France)
Language: English
Topic: Antenna Design and Analysis
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Thales Group
OpenAlex ID: W4403758849