Solving Sub-Wavelength Lattice Reduction in Full-Metal Front-Ends for Dual-Polarized Active Antennas

Abstract

This paper proposes an original structure of evanescent quad-ridge antenna to conceive dual-polarized full-metal front-ends that can be used in active antennas with wide field-ofview. An original design methodology is here proposed that allows to induce radiation from sub-wavelength squared apertures based on the use of evanescent and quad-ridge waveguides. The proposal is illustrated by means of a design with 4.5% bandwidth providing dual-circular polarization with good performance up to 50 o -scanning even in the diagonal plane. For comparison purposes, a metallic benchmark is also proposed, which is based on the use of classical quad-ridge horns. Such comparative analysis allows to understand the superior performance of the proposed concept and its main advantage: it allows to avoid the excitation of the first high order mode in the squared quadridge aperture. The excitation of such spurious mode in the antenna is explained in terms of simple equivalent circuit models characterizing the aperture periodic discontinuity.

How 3D-Printing Is Changing RF Front-End Design for Space Applications

“…At first, AM technologies have been investigated for the development of stand-alone components relevant to satellite communication payloads, including straight and meander waveguides [47], [48], filters [49], [50], [51], [52], [53], [54], ortho-mode transducers/polarizers [55], [56], [57], [58], [59], and radiating elements, such as helix/quad-ridge antennas [23], [60], [61], and feed horns [57], [62]. Investigations on the multipactor performance of AM components have also been carried out [63].…”