A Novel Printed-circuit Microwave Antenna

本文描述了一种新型的印刷电路天线，它具有大幅度降低微波天线成本的潜力。印刷电路偶极子天线阵列的使用并不新鲜，但现有的方法需要复杂而精确的互连传输线。天线包括导波基板，该导波基板通过接近偶极子元件耦合。该结构在截面上相对较薄，并且易于适应许多不同的天线应用。它不需要任何突出物，如抛物面盘所需的饲料角。辐射模式可以是本质上任意的形式。天线的带宽和孔径效率与任何行波结构基本相同；如平面波导开槽阵列。这些波导阵列天线，虽然制造成本昂贵，但代表了最先进的电气性能，并在许多应用中使用。一个例子是F16飞机的多模雷达。所提出的天线在电上是类似的，不同之处在于激励模式。实验结果证实了天线的电效率和定向性能。

A novel printed-circuit antenna is described which has the potential of drastically reducing the cost of microwave antennas. Use of printed-circuit dipole antenna arrays is not new, however existing methods require complex and precise interconnecting transmission lines. The antenna comprises a guided wave substrate that is coupled, by proximity, to dipole elements. The structure is relatively thin in cross-section, and readily adaptable to many different antenna applications. It does not require any protrusions, such as the feed-horn needed with parabolic dishes. The radiation patterns may be of essentially arbitrary form. Bandwidth and aperture efficiency of the antenna is essentially identical to any traveling-wave structure; such as planar waveguide slotted arrays. These waveguide array antennas, although expensive to manufacture, represent state-of-the-art electrical performance and are used in many applications. An example is the F16 aircraft multi-mode radar. The proposed antenna is electrically analogous, the difference being in the excitation mode. Experimental results are given which confirm the electrical efficiency and directionality properties of the antenna.