Telemática (Jul 2020)
ANTENNA ARRAY WITH CIRCULAR POLARIZATION AND RGW TECHNOLOGY FOR SATELLITE APPLICATIONS
Abstract
The Gap Waveguide (GW) technology is an alternative to conventional transmission lines for use in the design of antennas in the millimeter-wave band (3 - 300 GHz). Compared to other lines used in microwave systems, higher efficiency values are obtained, with the consequent increase in antenna gain, because in most cases the GW does not use substrate. Besides, due to its physical characteristics, the GW technology has greater resistance to solar radiation. These two advantages are very useful in satellite applications because they operate in extreme conditions of solar radiation and with batteries that limit the life of the satellite. The present work is aimed at the design of a 2x2 element slot antenna array for satellite applications in the Ka-band with circular polarization, using the Ridge Gap Waveguide (RGW) variant. The simple element of the array consists of an L-terminated structure and a rotated slot in the top metal plate for circular polarization. A maximum gain of 12.5 dB is obtained, a circular polarization bandwidth of approximately 18.4%, and total efficiency of 99% for the design frequency (35 GHz), falling at the ends of the band up to 85%.
