IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation (Jan 2022)

2-D Beam Steering Performance of a Triple Mode Horn Antenna Integrated With Risley Prism and Phase Correcting Surface

  • Kaushik Debbarma,
  • Nhat Truong,
  • Satish Kumar Sharma,
  • Jia-Chi Samuel Chieh

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/OJAP.2022.3187373
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3
pp. 752 – 761

Abstract

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This paper presents a passive 2-D beam steering solution comprising of a triple-mode circular waveguide horn antenna operating at Ka-band frequency of 30 GHz, a pair of identical dielectric lenses employing Risley prism and a parabolic phase correcting surface. The circular waveguide horn antenna generates ${\mathrm {TE}}_{11}, {\mathrm {TM}}_{01}$ and ${\mathrm {TE}}_{21}$ modes independently. The pair of identical dielectric lenses employing the Risley prism concept are axially rotated individually and/or simultaneously to steer the radiated beam. The parabolic phase correcting structure is used to further improve the performance of the steered patterns. Overall, this antenna structure steers ${\mathrm {TE}}_{11}, {\mathrm {TM}}_{01}$ and ${\mathrm {TE}}_{21}$ modes patterns which makes it an attracting solution for tracking and communication applications. The proposed antenna system has been prototyped and experimentally verified in a compact antenna test range (CATR) chamber. The measured conical scan angles for ${\mathrm {TE}}_{11}$ mode is found to be around $\pm 40{^\circ }$ with gain deviation less than 3 dB. The ${\mathrm {TM}}_{01}$ and ${\mathrm {TE}}_{21}$ modes are steered with a scan angle covering $\pm 30{^\circ }$ .

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