Continuous Transverse Stub Array for Ka-Band Applications

Abstract

International audienceThis paper presents a flat, high gain, wide scanning, broadband continuous transverse stub (CTS) array. The design procedure, the fabrication, and an exhaustive antenna characterization are described in details. The array comprises 16 radiating slots and is fed by a corporate-feed network in hollow parallel plate waveguide (PPW) technology. A pillbox-based linear source illuminates the corporate network and allows for beam steering. The antenna is designed by using an ad hoc mode matching code recently developed for CTS arrays, providing design guidelines. The assembly technique ensures the electrical contact among the various stages of the network without using any electromagnetic choke and any bonding process. The main beam of the antenna is mechanically steered over ±40° in elevation, by moving a compact horn within the focal plane of the pillbox feeding system. Excellent performances are achieved. The features of the beam are stable within the design 27.5-31 GHz band and beyond, in the entire Ka-band (26.5-40 GHz). An antenna gain of about 29 dBi is measured at broadside at 29.25 GHz and scan losses lower than 2 dB are reported at ±40°. The antenna efficiency exceeds 80% in the whole scan range. The very good agreement between measurements and simulations validates the design procedure. The proposed design is suitable for Satcom Ka-band terminals in moving platforms, e.g., trains and planes, and also for mobile ground stations, as a multibeam sectorial antenna

Design of the Variable Inclination Continuous Transverse Stub Antenna Based on Rectangular Grating Slow-Wave Structure

“…VICTS antenna is developed from continuous transverse stub (CTS) antenna [2][3][4] and it is a typical frequencyscanning and leaky-wave antenna. The antenna structure is shown in Figure 1.…”

A long slot array fed by a multilayer true-time delay network in LTCC for 60-GHz communications

“…Two stages of 1:2 power dividers have been cascaded to match the active impedance of the array to the characteristic impedance of the input PPW, of height 0.48 mm. The first design has been completed by considering standard PPWs and related circuit models, as in [11]. The design proposed in [13] has been used to enhance the bandwidth of the power divider at the input of the network.…”

“…In this contribution, we propose an antenna module fully-embedded in dielectric material. The broadband architecture of parallelfed continuous transverse stub arrays [10]- [11] is used to counterbalance the narrowband effect of the high r . Four long slots are parallel-fed by a multilayer true-time delay network based on vertical SI-PPWs.…”

Low-Profile Frequency-Scanned Antenna Based on Substrate Integrated Waveguide

“…The 3-element leaky-wave CPW-CTS array obtained the scan-angle range from 58° to 124° by changing 6 metamaterial-based phase shifters [13]. Ettorre, et al, designed a Ka-band CTS array with a wide scanning range of ±40° by moving a horn within the focal plane of the pillbox feeding system, which was fabricated by the metal process [14]. By using the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology, Ref.…”