M. Sierra-Castañer

Electronically Reconfigurable Transmitarray at Ku Band for Microwave Applications

An electronically reconfigurable transmitarray device at 12 GHz is presented in this work. This paper highlights the functioning of this kind of device and thoroughly examines the proposed reconfigurable transmitarray. The architecture is discussed along with the design and selection of all the constituting elements and the prototypes for all of them. In order to add reconfigurability to the transmitarray structure, 360° reflective phase shifters were designed, prototyped and validated for direct application. Eventually, a demonstrative prototype for an active transmitarray with phase shifters was assembled, and radiation pattern measurements were taken in an anechoic chamber to demonstrate the capabilities of this structure.

Low-cost monopulse radial line slot antenna

The authors propose the design of one radial line slot antenna with two simultaneous beams, one broadside beam and one conical beam. The antenna is a radial line slot antenna (RLSA), with the slots placed on the upper plate in concentric rings. The radiating element is a slot pair, designed for getting left hand circular polarization. The antenna has been designed to work in the range of 13.4 GHz and 14 GHz. Both beams are obtained independently through very simple excitation circuits, realized with microstrip technology. These feeding networks include a Butler Matrix Network. Comparing both radiation patterns, amplitude and phase, theta and phi angles of arrival direction can be obtained. This monopulse performance can be used to orientate the pencil beam for satellite communication antennas. Measurements for a first prototype are presented to validate the design.

Mutual Coupling Reduction Using EBG in Steering Antennas

In this letter, a dual circular polarized steering antenna for satellite communications in X-band is presented. This antenna consists of printed elements grouped in an array, able to work from 7.25 up to 8.4 GHz in both polarizations: left-handed circular polarization (LHCP) and right-handed circular polarization (RHCP). The module antenna is compact, with narrow beamwidth, and reaches a gain of 16 dBi. It has the capability to steer in elevation to ±10° and ±40° electronically with a Butler matrix. In order to reduce the mutual coupling between adjacent patches, electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structures are introduced. These EBGs combine double-layer and edge location via in order to reduce the size, without changing the low-permittivity substrate, and therefore maintaining the high radiation efficiency of the antenna.

Dual circular polarized steering antenna for satellite communications in X band

In this work, a dual circular polarized steering antenna for satellite communications in X band is presented. The antenna consists of printed elements grouped in an array. This terminal works in a frequency band from 7.25 GHz up to 8.4 GHz (15% of bandwidth), where both bands, reception (RX) and transmission (TX) are included simultaneously and Left Handed Circular Polarization (LHCP) and Right Handed Circular Polarization (RHCP) are interchangeable. The antenna is compact, narrow bandwidth and reaches a gain of 16 dBi. It has the capability to steer in elevation to 45±, 75±, 105± and 135± electronically with a Butler matrix and 360± in azimuth with a motorized junction.

New Reflection Suppression Method in Antenna Measurement Systems Based on Diagnostic Techniques

A new method to reduce the unwanted reflection effects in antenna measurements is presented. The proposed method can be applied to measurements performed in semi-anechoic chambers, outdoor systems or even anechoic environments with a poor reflectivity level to remove reflected components and to retrieve the results one would obtain in an ideal anechoic chamber. The method is based on spatial filtering over the plane where the antenna under test (AUT) is placed. To calculate the field in this plane, a diagnostic technique is employed. However, in contrast to classic application (error source identification), the reconstructed field has to be obtained in a zone larger than the antenna dimensions. Thus, it is possible to identify virtual sources out of the antenna aperture, which appear due to the presence of reflections (image theory). Then, by cancelling the virtual and unwanted sources, the related reflected components can be suppressed. Finally, by employing this filtered reconstructed field, a new radiation pattern similar to the one obtained in a fully anechoic environment is calculated. To verify the effectiveness of the method, three examples are presented.

Double-beam parallel-plate slot antenna

This paper presents the design and prototyping of a double-beam linear polarized parallel-plate slot antenna at 12-GHz band. Each beam is separated 27.7/spl deg/ and 27.3/spl deg/, respectively, from broadside direction. Two different radiation patterns are generated, exciting the parallel plate from opposite sides. The radiating elements are composed by three parallel slots, the central slot is close to the resonance, while the side ones are designed to minimize the reflection inside the parallel plate. The length of the slots in the same row is kept constant (periodic walls), and the distance between columns is equal to 0.7 times the wavelength. The designs of the feeding networks and the design of the array of slots generate both beams, pointing toward Hispasat and Astra satellites simultaneously, at the same frequency band. The feeding networks are two microstrip circuits that excite two linear arrays of 24 patches, placed at both sides of the antenna, and generate both quasi-TEM mode plane waves inside the parallel-plate waveguide, propagating from one side to the other.

Lightweight Portable Planar Slot Array Antenna for Satellite Communications in X-Band

A lightweight portable planar slot array antenna at X-band for fixed satellite communications is presented in this letter. The terminal is composed of two radial-line slot antennas (RLSAs) with the slots placed on the upper layer in spiral: one for reception (RX) band with left-handed circular polarization (LHCP), and the other one for transmission (TX) band with right-handed circular polarization (RHCP). A lightweight two-layer dielectric structure is used to achieve and optimize the RLSA weight. The radiating element is a slot pair, designed to provide circular polarization. The feeding network consists of a 50-Ω SMA connector for each RLSA. A radiation efficiency of more than 70% is achieved due to the low dielectric constant substrate. Finally, measurements of the lightweight portable planar RX/TX antenna prototypes are presented and compared to simulations, where very good agreement is observed.

An Efficient Hybrid GO-PWS Algorithm to Analyze Conformal Serrated-Edge Reflectors for Millimeter-Wave Compact Range

A method to analyze parabolic reflectors with arbitrary piecewise rim is presented in this communication. This kind of reflectors, when operating as collimators in compact range facilities, needs to be large in terms of wavelength. Their analysis is very inefficient, when it is carried out with fullwave/MoM techniques, and it is not very appropriate for designing with PO techniques. Also, fast GO formulations do not offer enough accuracy to reach performance results. The proposed algorithm is based on a GO-PWS hybrid scheme, using analytical as well as non-analytical formulations. On one side, an analytical treatment of the polygonal rim reflectors is carried out. On the other side, non-analytical calculi are based on efficient operations, such as M2 order 2-dimensional FFT. A combination of these two techniques in the algorithm ensures real ad-hoc design capabilities, reached through analysis speedup. The purpose of the algorithm is to obtain an optimal conformal serrated-edge reflector design through the analysis of the field quality within the quiet zone that it is able to generate in its forward half space.

Design of a 12 GHz transmit-array

The aim of the paper is to present a particular antenna structure, working as if it were a transmit-array (double array lens). Due to this working function, the structure consists of a patch array in the reception part, a phase delay for each patch and another patch array in the transmission part. The point in using this device is to place it in front of a particular antenna in order to modify the radiation pattern of the feeding antenna. Finally, measurements of these prototypes are shown. This work is the first step in order to develop a reconfigurable transmit-array in future. In this paper some design criteria, simulation results and prototype measurements have been presented.

Experimental Determination of DRW Antenna Phase Center at mm-Wavelengths Using a Planar Scanner: Comparison of Different Methods

A study of the phase center position of dielectric rod waveguide (DRW) antennas (silicon and sapphire) for different millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies is presented in this document. Phase center position is determined using data obtained by planar scanning and analyzed by means of different methods: least squares fit method with and without weighting coefficients and plane wave spectrum (PWS) analysis method. A study of the radiation pattern and phase center position for different mm-wave frequencies is provided and the results of the different methods are presented and compared.