Additively Manufactured Amplitude Tapered Slotted Waveguide Array Antenna With Horn Aperture for 77 GHz

Abstract

In this work, a combined frontend of horn and slotted waveguide array antenna serving as feeding subsystem is presented. This setup allows to implement an amplitude taper in one plane while using the horn aperture to shape the far field radiation characteristics in the perpendicular plane independently and tailored to the individual demand of the application. Moreover, the feeding system is implemented as a loop resulting in a standing wave distribution for a wide frequency range in order to increase the antenna bandwidth. Two specimens with different horn apertures are additively manufactured in slotted waveguide technology from UV curable photopolymer resin using a digital light processing 3D printer and subsequently metal coated by electroless silver plating. A relatively large bandwidth of B −10dB = 7.2 GHz and a B −15 dB of 4.9 GHz is achieved in measurements indicating a relative bandwidth of 9 % and 6 % respectively. Antenna Gain is characterized as 17.5 and 20.17 dBi in measurements while maintaining a sidelobe level of 20-22.5 dB at 77 GHz and exhibiting a radiation efficiency of 78.9 and 79.4 %. The proposed antenna architecture provides a flexible approach for beam shaping in applications where azimuth and elevation planes exhibit different or contrary requirements, e.g. broad vs. narrow field of view -especially suitable for automotive MIMO-radar sensors.

Magneto‐electric dipole antenna array for 77 GHz automotive radar

“…The performance exhibited in Ref. [12] is advanced, except for the high profile due to the horn structure. The work proposed in Ref.…”

“…A patch array antenna achieves 3 dB beamwidths of 70°and 8.1°in azimuth and elevation, exhibiting a narrow bandwidth of approximately 3% [11], due to the inherent narrow-band weakness of the patch antenna. Some methods reported an increase in antenna beamwidths in the 77 GHz band [12,13]. In a tapered slotted waveguide antenna, by implementing an amplitude taper while using the horn aperture, the radiation pattern is shaped to increase the beamwidth [12].…”

“…Some methods reported an increase in antenna beamwidths in the 77 GHz band [12,13]. In a tapered slotted waveguide antenna, by implementing an amplitude taper while using the horn aperture, the radiation pattern is shaped to increase the beamwidth [12]. The antennas with narrow and wide horns respectively exhibit 3 dB beamwidths of 71°and 37.7°in azimuth.…”

Monolithically Integrated Coaxial Resonator-Based Filtennas Using SLA Three-Dimensional Printing

“…However, due the need for internal metallization they can only be implemented as split-block. On the other hand, monolithic SLA integration concepts have only been demonstrated for openended waveguide structures [20]- [21]. Considering the aforementioned limitations, this paper reports on the first time a new class of coaxial-resonator-based filtennas and a monolithic integration concept for a fully-enclosed structure using SLA.…”