A Circularly Polarized Parallel Plate Waveguide Lens-Like Multiple-Beam Linear Array Antenna for Satcom Applications

• Published in: IEEE access Vol. 11; pp. 4602 - 4614
• Main Authors: Bartolomei, Nicola, Blanco, Darwin, Doucet, Francois, Girard, Etienne, Legay, Herve, Fonseca, Nelson J. G., Sauleau, Ronan, Ettorre, Mauro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aluminum; Antenna arrays; Antennas; Beamformers; Beamforming; Broadband antennas; Circular polarization; Engineering Sciences; Extremely high frequencies; Lenses; Linear arrays; parallel plate waveguides; Parallel plates; Polarization; Polarizers; Rectangular waveguides; satcom applications; Septum; septum polarizer; Uplink; Uplinking; Waveguides; Wideband; Polarization; circular polarization; parallel plate waveguides; septum polarizer; Rectangular waveguides; satcom applications; Broadband antennas; Uplink; Antennas; Wideband; Lenses; Beamformers
• ISSN: 2169-3536; 2169-3536
• DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3235822

This work presents a full metal circularly-polarized lens-like antenna for Satcom applications at Ka-band. The antenna is composed of two continuous parallel plate waveguide (PPW) quasi-optical beamformers (QOBF), feeding an array of septum polarizers to generate circular polarization. The QOBFs operate over a wide band and provide a multi-beam coverage over a large field of view in the azimuthal plane, while maintaining a relatively simple mechanical design. The array of septum polarizers is based on a stepped profile to generate circular polarization with a good polarization purity in the uplink of Ka-band (27 - 31 GHz). The antenna is fully realized in aluminium. The antenna system provides 14 beams with alternating right/left handed circular polarization (RHCP/LHCP) with an axial ratio (AR) below 3 Db over an angular range of ±19° in the uplink of Ka-Band. The maximum gain in the azimuthal plane at 30 GHz is about 21 dB over the whole angular range, with a scan loss lower than 1.5 dB. The antenna efficiency is better than 78% for all beams in the operative band.