Micromachines (Dec 2021)

Waveguide Manufacturing Technologies for Next-Generation Millimeter-Wave Antennas

  • Lucas Polo-López,
  • Pablo Sanchez-Olivares,
  • Eduardo García-Marín,
  • Jorge A. Ruiz-Cruz,
  • Juan Córcoles,
  • José L. Masa-Campos,
  • José R. Montejo-Garai,
  • Jesús M. Rebollar

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12121565
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 12
p. 1565

Abstract

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Some recent waveguide-based antennas are presented in this paper, designed for the next generation of communication systems operating at the millimeter-wave band. The presented prototypes have been conceived to be manufactured using different state-of-the-art techniques, involving subtractive and additive approaches. All the designs have used the latest developments in the field of manufacturing to guarantee the required accuracy for operation at millimeter-wave frequencies, where tolerances are extremely tight. Different designs will be presented, including a monopulse antenna combining a comparator network, a mode converter, and a spline profile horn; a tunable phase shifter that is integrated into an array to implement reconfigurability of the main lobe direction; and a conformal array antenna. These prototypes were manufactured by diverse approaches taking into account the waveguide configuration, combining parts with high-precision milling, electrical discharge machining, direct metal laser sintering, or stereolithography with spray metallization, showing very competitive performances at the millimeter-wave band till 40 GHz.

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