Design and Fabrication of Wideband Array Antenna Module for Two-Dimensional Interferometer Direction-Finding System

Abstract

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a wideband array antenna module for a two-dimensional (2-D) interferometer direction-finding system. The array antenna module comprises an installation panel, spiral antennas, absorbers, and a radome. The absorber was configured to minimize the phase difference between vertical and horizontal polarizations to reduce the degradation of the direction-finding performance. Rubber and foam absorbers were applied in a hybrid form to minimize diffuse reflection. The radome was applied using an A-sandwich structure and manufacturing a laminated structure with a small vertical-and horizontal-polarization phase difference. The average phase difference between the vertical and horizontal polarizations of the array antenna was measured as an azimuth of 8.09° and elevation of 7.89°. Therefore, the fabricated array antenna can be applied to the 2-D interferometer direction-finding system.