Planar antennas with NRD-guide feed networks

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Planar mm-wave antenna often suffer from excessive losses due to the feed network. Based on recent work at the Polygrames Research Center in Montreal on nonradiative dielectric waveguide (NRD) circuits and at the University of Ulm on waveguide-fed planar antennas, a joint program is proposed to investigate planar antennas with low loss NRD waveguide feed networks.The proposed program includes two basic antenna Arrangement. The first one consists of small subarrays of planar radiating elements fed - using electromagnetic coupling - via a NRD feed network. The second approach focuses on a scanning antenna. In this antenna, each radiating element is connected to a mixer circuit. The LO signal is fed to the mixers through a cascaded transmission line. Changing the frequency of the LO signal thus causes an increasing phase shift of the LO signal at the mixers. Combining the IF signals in phase, a beam scanning results. To achieve a sufficiently wide scanning range, relatively long LO transmission lines are required which, once again, could well be realized using NRD transmission lines. To design these two types of antennas, extensive work has to be done in the areas of: Design and optimization of NRD transmission lines and networks Coupling between planar circuits and NRD waveguide Design of planar antenna elements compatible with the intended set-up Design of the active circuits (mixers, possibly IF amplifiers) Integration of planar (active) circuits, radiating elements, and NRD network Integration and test of the complete antennas In addition, some basic technological investigations will be necessary to allow an effective realization of the antennas.