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2D slot array antenna in ridge gap waveguide technology

Conference Paper · April 2014

DOI: 10.1109/EuCAP.2014.6901823

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 The 8th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2014)

2D Slot Array Antenna in Ridge Gap Waveguide

Technology
M. Ramezan, A.Khaleghi
ECE Department, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, [email protected]
ECE Department, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, [email protected]

Abstract—this paper describes a new design of a two II. RIDGE GAP WAVEGUIDE DESIGN
dimensional slot antenna array on ridge gap waveguide
(RGW) technology. The designed antenna operated in Ku RGW transmission line design is the first step for antenna
frequency band at 13.5 GHz with a bandwidth of about 800 realization. For this purpose, a transmission line structure is
MHz. The antenna consists of an RGW power divider and two considered for Ku-frequency band; the dimensions of the
branches transmission lines which feed a series of two parallel ridge, pins and the gap between the ridge and the top metal
slots. The slots are elliptical shaped that provided wide surface have been selected using [4] as depicted in Fig. 1.
impedance matching. The antenna characteristics, including
The dispersion diagram of an infinite periodic structure is
return loss, radiation patter and efficiency are presented.
shown in Fig. 2 that is obtained using Eigenmode solver of
Keywords— Slot array antenna, Ridge gap waveguide CST Microwave Studio. As shown, the band gap frequency
I. INTRODUCTION is placed within 10-22 GHz, indicating that wave will be
confined between the ridge and the top plate with only
Waveguide slot antennas have many applications in Quasi-TEM propagation mode that can be distinguished in
different areas such as communications and radar due to the Fig. 2. The transmission line can be fed through a coaxial
advantages in the building process and integration as well as line for the realization purpose. In this case, the frequency
the light weight and costing benefits. One of the typical range will be limited due to the transition design. For
antennas of this kind which is used in high frequency and instance, our design indicated the frequency range of 12-
high gain applications is rectangular waveguide slot antenna 15GHz. This frequency range is placed in the frequency
which has a sophisticated feeder network. Therefore, cost of band of the intended antenna.
building of such antennas is very high considering the tight
contacts between the slot surface and the feeder network.
The new technology which has been introduced to solve
this issue is ridge gap waveguide (RGW) [1]. In this
technology the wave guide parts can be developed in two or
more separate mechanical parts, due to the naturally
available air gap between waveguide surfaces. This feature is
especially important when short wavelengths are introduced,
for example in mm-waves. Consequently, new ideas can be (a)
developed for more simplified feeder networks and antenna
blocks. Integration of the transmission line with the antenna
array is an important task that can reduce the feeding loss
and also simplify the manufacturing. Thus, RGW based
antennas is an appropriate choice.
There are few publications that propose RGW based slot
antennas [2, 3]. Due to the feeding structure proposed in
these publications, the antenna array can be implemented in a
linear one dimensional prototype. In this paper, a new RGW
(b)
array antenna structure is proposed that can be developed in
Fig. 1 Geometry of designed Ridge gap waveguide for 12-15GHz. a)
2D structure. The integration of power divider /combiner is
Side view, b) Top view, The parameters defined at fallow: d=5mm, h=1mm,
also possible. The paper is organized as follows: in Section II s=3.25mm, a=3mm, p=3.5mm, w=3.65mm
design of RGW for operating in Ku-band is presented.
Section III, presents a design of a linear slot array antenna on III. DESIGN OF LINEAR ARRAY ANTENNA
an RGW structure with optimized slots. In Section IV, a The ridge gap waveguide technology propagates quasi-TEM
power divider of 1:2 is designed and optimized using RGW mode in the gap between the ridge and top metal face
that feeds 2 branches of a linear slot array. The results of full through leading the wave in the ridge direction and avoiding
wave simulation for return loss, radiation pattern and antenna propagation of the wave in transverse direction of the
efficiency are presented. Section V, concludes this paper. waveguide. The propagated field components and
propagation constant of quasi-TEM in the structure have

978-88-907018-4-9/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE 579

 The 8th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2014)

0
450
light line
400 -5
Prppagation constant(m-1)

350
-10

Return Loss(dB)
300

250
-15

200 -20
150
-25
100

50 -30
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 -35
Frequency(GHz) 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 14 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 2 Dispersion diagram in the ridge direction for one period of RGW
transmission line structure Fig. 4 Return loss versus frequency for linear slot array antenna

been presented in [5]. Considering the magnetic field As shown, there is a resonance at 13.89GHz with an
component in the waveguide, two tangential magnetic field impedance bandwidth of 150 MHz for return loss below 10
component Hx and Hz are exist on the top metal surface. dB. The radiation pattern of the antenna is depicted in Fig. 5
These fields generate current surface at x and z directions in for E-plane and H- plane.
upper plates of the waveguide. To make the longitudinal slot 20
array, at the transmission direction, x-component of the
15
current should be blocked by the slots. This causes the
current rounding the longitudinal slots and thus radiation will 10

occur. The current density at the center of the waveguide is

Gain(dB)
5
zero and the electric field is symmetric around the center of
the ridge, thus the slots are placed with x-offset from the 0

center ridge. We note that the offset of slots from the center -5

of waveguide, determines the amount of coupled energy to -10

the slots [6]. Furthermore, the slots should be placed
-15
alternatively around the ridge in the longitude direction to -150 -100 -50 0
Angle (degree)
50 100 150

provide similar phase feeding required for the array antenna.

(a)
One of the features of the designed antenna array is that
20
the end of the transmission line is terminated to a magnetic
wall which reflects the wave back to the transmission line 10

and can cause high antenna efficiency, in contrast to the 0

traditional lossy leaky wave antennas. -10

Gain(dB)

The final linear array antenna design has been shown in -20
Fig. 3. To obtain a wider bandwidth and appropriate
-30
radiation in the array, elliptical slots have been used [7]. The
-40
antenna is simulated using time domain solver of CST. Fig. 4
shows the return loss versus frequency. -50

-60
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150
Angle (degree)

(b)
Fig. 5. Simulated radiation pattern of linear array antenna at 13.89GHz
(a) E-plane (b) H-plane

IV. DESIGN OF 2D ARRAY ANTENNA

To extend the linear array to a two dimensional array, a
two-way equal power divider is designed on RGW
transmission line to feed two lines of linear arrays. For this
purpose, three transmission lines of 50 and a quarter wave
impedance transformer are required that can be realized on
RGW. Fig. 6 shows the power divider configuration and the
Fig. 3 Geometry of designed linear array antenna related geometry. One line of periodic pins between the two
branches of the power divider is designed to minimize the
distance between the slot antennas in the x-direction so the

580
 The 8th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2014)

side lobes of the array antenna can be controlled. The to the single line array shown in Fig. 4. This can be
simulation results of power divider are shown in Fig. 7. explained by higher power coupling to the free space through
the larger number of slots.
0

-5

Return Loss(dB)
-10

-15

-20

-25

-30
13 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 14
Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 6. Two-way power divider on RGW W0=6.5mm, W1=10mm, Fig. 9. Return loss versus frequency for 2D slot array antenna
L=6.2mm.
Fig. 10 shows the farfield radiation pattern of the antenna
0 for three different frequencies at 13.2, 13.5 and 13.8 GHz.
-3 The antenna has a gain of 17.4 dBi at the center frequency
-6
S-Parameters Magnitude(dB)

-9
which increases about 3 dB compared with linear array
-12 antenna. The 3 dB beamwidth of the antenna is 56 degrees,
-15 and 11.1 degrees, for E and H- planes, respectively.
-18
20
-21
f=13.2GHz
-24 15
f=13.5GHz
-27 f=13.8GHz
10
-30
-33 S11 5
S21
Gain(dB)

-36 0
-39 S31
-5
13 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 14
Frequency (GHz) -10
Fig. 7. Return loss versus frequency for 2-way power divider -15

-20
The structure of the two lines array antenna along with
-25
the power divider with co-phase excitation and equally -200 -150 -100 -50 0
Angle (degree)
50 100 150 200

amplitude distribution in x-direction is depicted in Fig. 8. 20

The distance between rows is 0.53ߣ௚ , for the center f=13.2GHz
10 f=13.5GHz
frequency of 13.5 GHz. f=13.8GHz
0
Gain(dB)

-10

-20

-30

-40

-50
-200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 200
Angle (degree)

Fig. 10. Simulated radiation pattern of 2D array antenna (a) E-plane (b) H-
plane

The radiation pattern of the antenna is slightly squinted

from the boreside direction with the frequency variation, due
Fig. 8. The structure of 2D array antenna with integrated power divider
to the phase variation among the slots. In the given
frequency range the pattern boreside variation is about 1
Fig. 9 shows the return loss versus frequency of the 2D degree for H-plane.
slot array antenna. The antenna is matched to the frequency Fig. 11 shows the total radiation efficiency of the
range of 13.1 GHz to 13.9 GHz with 800 MHz of bandwidth. antenna. As shown, due to the termination of the power
The 2D array indicates wider impedance matching compared

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 The 8th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP 2014)

divider transmission lines to the periodic structure, the [7] H.C. Zhao, R.R. Xu and W.Wu, “Broadband waveguide slot array for
efficiency is significantly high. The small reduction is due to SAR”, Electronics Letters, vol. 47, No. 2, January 2011.
the coupling between lines and the coaxial feed transition.

-0.5

-1

-1.5
Efficiency(dB)

-2

-2.5

-3

-3.5

-4

-4.5

-5
13 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 14
Frequency (GHz)
Fig 11. Total Efficiency of 2D array antenna

V. CONCLUSION
A new array antenna design on ridge gap waveguide is
presented. The transmission line design and integration of
the slots on the line are described for a linear array and 2D
array. A 2D array prototype is optimized in the frequency
range of about 13.1-13.9 GHz using elliptical shaped slots.
The antenna is high efficient due to the use of magnetic wall
termination. The presented approach can be extended for
larger 2D array antennas on ridge gap technology.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by Iran National Science
Foundation (INSF) under the research plan No. 90004406.

REFERENCES

[1] P.S. Kildal, A. Zaman, E. Rajo-Iglesias, E. Alfonso and E. Valero-

Nogueira, “Design and experimental verification of ridge gap waveguide in
bed of nails for parallel-plate mode suppression,” IET Microwaves
Antennas And propagatins, vol. 5, Iss. 3, pp. 262-270, 2011.

[2] A. Uz Zaman and P.S. Kildal, “Ku Band Linear Slot-Array in Ridge
Gapwaveguide Technology,” 7th European Conference on Antennas and
Propagation , Gothenburg, Sweden, April, 2013.

[3] A Uz Zaman and P. S. Kildal, “Slot Antenna in Ridge Gap Waveguide

Technology,” 6th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation,
Prague , March, 2012.

[4] E. Rajo-Iglesias, P.S. Kildal, “Numerical studies of bandwidth of

parallel-plate cut-off realized by a bed of nails, corrugations and
mushroom-type electromagnetic bandgap for use in gap waveguide,” IET
Microwaves Antennas And propagation, vol. 5, pp. 282-289, 2011.

[5] Alessia Polemi, Stefano Maci and Per-Simon Kildal, “Dispersion

Characteristics of a Metamaterial-Based Parallel-Plate Ridge Gap
Waveguide Realized by Bed of Nails”, IEEE Transactions On Antenna
And Propagation, vol. 59, No. 3, March 2011.

[6] Paul Wade, “The W1GHZ Online Microwave Antenna Book”, part 1,
chapter 7, Slot Antennas, July 2001.

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