TY - JOUR
T1 - Quad-Furcated Profiled Horn
T2 - The Next Generation Highly Efficient GEO Antenna in Additive Manufacturing
AU - Stoumpos, Charalampos
AU - Fraysse, Jean-Philippe
AU - Goussetis, George
AU - Sauleau, Ronan
AU - Legay, Hervé
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program through Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant under Agreement 722840 (REVOLVE).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 IEEE.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - A novel compact and highly efficient dual-polarized horn-like antenna is presented. It exploits a radiating aperture that is fed by four smaller waveguides via a quad-furcated junction. The antenna also comprises the full feed network for the feed waveguides including an integrated 4-way orthomode power divider. Design principles are described in detail and illustrated by means of an example involving an antenna with aperture size of 2.6 λ 0 × 2.6λ 0 ( λ 0 the wavelength at the central frequency of operation) intended primarily for Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites. The antenna feed was designed to comply with the Additive Manufacturing rules and exhibits aperture efficiency levels close to the theoretical maximum ones over the entire transmit Ku band (10.7 - 12.75 GHz), while at the same time its profile is highly compact (6.4 λ 0 ). The measured results of a prototype 3D-printed in Selective Laser Melting (SLM) verified experimentally the calculated high aperture efficiency (over 90%). The total antenna feed attains return loss > 19 dB and maximum cross-polarization isolation (XPI) > 24 dB over a bandwidth of 18%. In light of the favorable electrical performances and compact size, the proposed solution constitutes an appealing alternative to profiled (or spline) horns for satellite antenna systems used either as reflector feeds or direct radiating arrays.
AB - A novel compact and highly efficient dual-polarized horn-like antenna is presented. It exploits a radiating aperture that is fed by four smaller waveguides via a quad-furcated junction. The antenna also comprises the full feed network for the feed waveguides including an integrated 4-way orthomode power divider. Design principles are described in detail and illustrated by means of an example involving an antenna with aperture size of 2.6 λ 0 × 2.6λ 0 ( λ 0 the wavelength at the central frequency of operation) intended primarily for Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites. The antenna feed was designed to comply with the Additive Manufacturing rules and exhibits aperture efficiency levels close to the theoretical maximum ones over the entire transmit Ku band (10.7 - 12.75 GHz), while at the same time its profile is highly compact (6.4 λ 0 ). The measured results of a prototype 3D-printed in Selective Laser Melting (SLM) verified experimentally the calculated high aperture efficiency (over 90%). The total antenna feed attains return loss > 19 dB and maximum cross-polarization isolation (XPI) > 24 dB over a bandwidth of 18%. In light of the favorable electrical performances and compact size, the proposed solution constitutes an appealing alternative to profiled (or spline) horns for satellite antenna systems used either as reflector feeds or direct radiating arrays.
KW - Additive manufacturing
KW - aperture antenna
KW - aperture efficiency
KW - dual-polarization
KW - excitation network
KW - four-way orthomode power division
KW - GEO antenna
KW - quad-furcated radiating element
KW - satellite feeds
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122799391&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/OJAP.2021.3134833
DO - 10.1109/OJAP.2021.3134833
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85122799391
SN - 2637-6431
VL - 3
SP - 69
EP - 82
JO - IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation
JF - IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation
ER -