E-Band Full Corporate-Feed 32 × 32 Slot Array Antenna With Simplified Assembly

Abstract

This letter presents a high-gain 32 × 32-element full corporate-feed array antenna using a simplified assembly of only two split blocks. This is made possible by a new feeding configuration which eliminates the cavity-backed layer used in conventional designs. E-plane T-junctions, as well as the single-ridge waveguide output structure, are used in the full corporate-feed network to reduce its size. This helps to realize the one-to-one corresponding excitation between the output port of the feed network and the radiation slots. In addition, a transition structure from single-ridge waveguide to double-ridge waveguide is employed to improve the impedance matching bandwidth of the radiation part. For demonstration, a prototype is designed, fabricated, and measured. Experimental results show that the array antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 19% (71–86 GHz) with input reflection coefficient better than −13 dB, the antenna efficiency of over 76.4%, and peak gain of better than 38.4 dBi over the entire operating band.