Additive Manufacturing of Modulated Triple-Ridge Leaky-Wave Antenna

Abstract

This article investigates the potential of additive manufacturing for the fabrication of complex antenna geometries with enhanced performance at K-band. Stereolithography is here used to 3D-print a novel topology of dual-polarized leaky-wave antenna that allows for the control of its aperture illumination both in phase and magnitude. The antenna consists of a modulated triple-ridge square waveguide perforated on its top wall with crossed slots of different sizes. An orthomodetransducer is integrated within the structure for dual-mode operation. Monolithic implementation of this compound threedimensional structure is only possible thanks to additive manufacturing. In addition, low weight and compactness are attained comparing to classical milling. The present proposal is validated through the manufacturing of a low sidelobe levels prototype suitable for intersatellite links. The corresponding measured results are in very good agreement with full-wave predictions.

Circularly Polarized Leaky-Wave Antenna Based on a Dual-Mode Hollow Waveguide

“…The LWA has been monolithically manufactured using a metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) process based on Selective Laser Melting (SLM) combined with metal plating. Previous work by these authors considered a different technique based on polymer 3D-printing [8], [9]. To their best knowledge, this is the first proof of successful SLM prototyping of a leaky-waveguide.…”

“…The two arms in a cross may be of . different length, and their dimensions may vary along the y-axis [8]. The LWA is fed through a WR42 waveguide.…”

“…The structure can be interpreted as a combination of transversely slotted waveguide and longitudinally slotted waveguide LWAs. This proposal evolves from a previous contribution from these authors that concerned the generation of dual-linear polarization and sidelobe-level reduction [8], [9]. It should be noted that we restrict here to the case of single-CP, but extension to dual-CP is straightforward by only adding an orthomode transducer (OMT).…”

Conductive Electrifi and Nonconductive NinjaFlex Filaments based Flexible Microstrip Antenna for Changing Conformal Surface Applications

“…Recently, additive manufacturing (AM) has revolutionized both the commercial and research industries by presenting different kinds of rapid prototyping techniques for realizing complex geometries and structures. Particularly, multiple research groups have reported various additive manufacturing methods for prototyping antennas such as triple-ridge leaky-wave antennas, quad-ridged horn antennas, ring-focus dual-reflector antennas, and dual-polarized leaky-wave antennas [25][26][27][28][29]. The inkjet printing technology of additive manufacturing was also adopted to develop conformal microstrip antennas using a piezoelectric nozzle array [30], a patch antenna emitter for wireless communication [31], and a 3D patch antenna with integrated polymer and metal [32].…”

A Novel Dual-Polarized Continuous Transverse Stub Antenna Based on Corrugated Waveguides—Part II: Experimental Demonstration

“…Possible designs synthesizing such a line source may rely on dual-polarized slotted waveguide arrays [7], [8]. As an alternative, the dual-polarized array could be excited by a dual-mode quasi-optical system, e.g.…”