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. 2022 Jul 16;22(14):5329.
doi: 10.3390/s22145329.

Microstrip-Fed 3D-Printed H-Sectorial Horn Phased Array

Ivan Zhou  1 , Lluís Pradell  1 , José Maria Villegas  2 , Neus Vidal  2 , Miquel Albert  1 , Lluís Jofre  1 , Jordi Romeu  1
Affiliations

Microstrip-Fed 3D-Printed H-Sectorial Horn Phased Array

Ivan Zhou et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

A 3D-printed phased array consisting of four H-Sectorial horn antennas of 200 g weight with an ultra-wideband rectangular-waveguide-to-microstrip-line transition operating over the whole LMDS and K bands (24.25-29.5 GHz) is presented. The transition is based on exciting three overlapped transversal patches that radiate into the waveguide. The transition provides very low insertion losses, ranging from 0.30 dB to 0.67 dB over the whole band of operation (23.5-30.4 GHz). The measured fractional bandwidth of the phased array including the transition was 20.8% (24.75-30.3 GHz). The antenna was measured for six different scanning angles corresponding to six different progressive phases α, ranging from 0° to 140° at the central frequency band of operation of 26.5 GHz. The maximum gain was found in the broadside direction α = 0°, with 15.2 dB and efficiency η = 78.5%, while the minimum was found for α = 140°, with 13.7 dB and η = 91.2%.

Keywords: 3D antennas; 5G millimeter-wave antennas; horns; low-loss antennas; printed antennas.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Top view of the transition.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Isometric view of the transition.
Figure 3
Figure 3
S-parameters of the single transition.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Exploded view of the whole design.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Horn antenna (all dimensions in mm).
Figure 6
Figure 6
L4 layer showing the corrugations used for blind scanning reduction of a phased array.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Simulated input reflection coefficients for each port: (a) without nails; (b) with nails. There are 6 traces per port relating to the progressive phase from 0° to 140° at 26.5 GHz.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Entire manufactured phased array connected with the beamformer and ready to be measured in the anechoic chamber.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Input reflection coefficient (for measured - - and simulated -) for each port independently.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Radiation pattern in the E-plane (for measured - - and simulated -) for six different progressive phases α ranging from 0° to 56° (a) and from 84° to 140 ° (b), at 26.5 GHz.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Realized gain over frequency for three different progressive phases, α = 0°, 56° and 140°. Values were measured only from 26.5 GHz to 29.5 GHz due to the limitations of the beamformer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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