Towards a mm-wave planar biomimetic antenna array with enhanced phase sensitivity

Abstract

Abstract-The design and measurements of a two-element biomimetic antenna array is presented with enhanced phase sensitivity at 20 GHz using planar structures only. The antenna array hereby mimics the hearing system of the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first biomimetic antenna array using frequencies above 1 GHz. Using an aperture coupled patch antenna array with element spacing of λ/5 and a corresponding external coupling network a phase gain of 5 has been achieved. The proposed architecture is supposed to be usable in even higher frequency bands, especially in the mm-wave range.

Enhancing Angle Estimation for Off-Boresight Targets Using Biomimetic Antenna Arrays

“…Fig. 2 for the case η=5 and ξ=0) This comes at the cost of a loss in output power level [3]. Incidence angle θ in degree Phase angle in degree On the system level, the BMAA can be described by the two parameters phase gain η and normalized output power L out [3], [5].…”

“…2 for the case η=5 and ξ=0) This comes at the cost of a loss in output power level [3]. Incidence angle θ in degree Phase angle in degree On the system level, the BMAA can be described by the two parameters phase gain η and normalized output power L out [3], [5]. The phase gain, or phase enhancement factor, is defined by the ratio of the slopes of the respective phase progression curves at the terminals of a BMAA (φ out ) and a regular antenna array (φ in ) in boresight direction:…”

“…The BMAA is designed to have its maximum slope of φ out at θ ob = ±22 • . The antenna design is based on the BMAA presented in [3] and consists of two aperture coupled patch antennas separated by a distance of d = λ/5. The coupling network consists of the susceptances B 1 and B 2 as well as a conductance G L .…”

“…5. Compared to [3], the straight stubs were replaced by radial stubs which can be chosen smaller and which are more broadband. The radial stubs with length r o act as shunt capacitors realizing B 1 , the thin connecting line with length l conL and width w conL acts as an inductance realizing B 2 .…”

A Generalized Model for Two-Element Biomimetic Antenna Arrays

“…Inspired by the electrical model and the design process, several BMAA designs were presented using planar antennas at 400 MHz [13], [14] and 20 GHz [15] where also a coupling network in planar microstrip technology using distributed elements was implemented. An extension of the BMAA concept to three radiating elements was shown in [16], [17].…”