Hindawi

International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

Volume 2017, Article ID 7385357, 8 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7385357

Research Article
Design of an Edge Slotted Waveguide Antenna Array Based on
T-Shaped Cross-Section Waveguide

Teng Li and Wenbin Dou

State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Teng Li; liteng [email protected]

Received 22 January 2017; Revised 14 May 2017; Accepted 4 June 2017; Published 6 July 2017

Academic Editor: Muhammad Ramlee Kamarudin

Copyright © 2017 Teng Li and Wenbin Dou. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.

An edge slotted waveguide antenna array based on T-shaped cross-section radiating waveguide is proposed. The T-shaped
waveguide is analyzed and designed to operate in dominant mode around the center frequency, which has a lower profile compared
with the rectangular one. The radiating slots are etched and rotated alternatively on the broadened top plate without cutting into the
adjacent walls. The metal fences are inserted between slots to reduce the mutual coupling and surface wave. Therefore, the sidelobe
level in 𝐸-plane is well suppressed. A 2 × 8 antenna array working at Ka-band is designed and fabricated. The measured results
agree well with simulations which demonstrate this novel waveguide structure.

1. Introduction 2 × 8 antenna array working at 35 GHz is designed by using

full wave EM simulator and validated experimentally.
Slotted waveguide antenna array is a good candidate in the
areas of radar and communication systems due to its attrac- 2. The Analysis of T-Shaped Waveguide
tive features, such as low power loss, low cross-polarization
levels, low profile, high power capacity, high efficiency, and The rectangular waveguides are usually used as a radiating
accurate control of amplitude and phase distributions. Some waveguide for the edge slotted waveguide antennas with
edge slot antenna arrays have been researched [1–6]. The the slots cutting into the broad walls for resonance. The
edge slot waveguide antenna can be integrated with the other novel T-shaped waveguide is firstly introduced as a radiating
antennas for dual polarization applications [7–9]. The slots waveguide in [10] and the cross-section of the waveguide
etched on the narrow wall of the waveguide are usually cut becomes T-shaped as shown in Figure 1(a). The port field in
into the adjacent broad walls [1–3] or folded as Z-shaped [4– the dominant mode and the surface current on the top plate
6] to achieve the resonance. of the T-shaped waveguide are studied and they are depicted
In this paper, a novel edge slotted waveguide antenna in Figure 1(b) compared with a rectangular one. It can be
array is proposed based on the T-shaped cross-section seen that the port field and surface current on the top plate
waveguide. Owing to the top plate which is broadened, the of the two waveguides are similar to the TE dominant mode.
radiating slots can be etched on the top without cutting Therefore, the inclined radiating slots etched on the top plate
into the adjacent walls or folded as Z-shaped. Furthermore, of the T-shaped waveguide can cut the surface current and be
the waveguides with T-shaped cross-section can also reduce designed like the regular ones.
the profile compared with regular ones. The metal fences The higher order propagation mode may be introduced
are inserted between slots to suppress mutual coupling and into the T-shaped waveguide such as TE01 mode owing to the
surface wave which are beneficial to improve the radiation broadened top plate. Therefore, the operating mode of the
performance. The effect of these fences on radiating slots is T-shaped waveguide should be analyzed and a rectangular
analyzed as well. A bend waveguide transition is invented to waveguide with the same guide wavelength is proposed for
transform the waveguide from 𝐸-plane to 𝐻-plane. Finally, a comparison.
2 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

b b1
a
a1
a2
b
Rectangular waveguide T-shaped waveguide
(a)
Jsurf (A/m)
36.34

Rectangular
waveguide 18.18

4.55

Jsurf (A/m)
26.56

13.34
T-shaped
waveguide
3.42

Field on HFSS port Surface current

(b)

Figure 1: Geometry and field distributions of the rectangular and T-shaped waveguide. (a) Configuration. (b) Port field in dominant mode
and surface current on the top plate.

The operating center frequency of antenna array is the propagation constant of rectangular waveguide and T-
35 GHz and the guide wavelength 𝜆 g is set as 15.02 mm. The shaped waveguide and the subscripts 1 and 2 represent the
width 𝑏 of the rectangular waveguide is set as 2 mm and the dominant mode and second higher mode. It can be found
height 𝑎 = 5.21 mm can be derived. For T-shaped waveguide, that the parameter 𝑏1 takes the main effect on the second-
the dimensions are chosen as the following rules: order mode but a slight effect on dominant mode. Instead, the
parameters 𝑎1 and 𝑎2 affect mostly the dominant mode. Com-
(a) The bottom width 𝑏 is the same as the rectangular one. pared with the rectangular waveguide, for the same 𝛽, the
(b) The top width 𝑎1 should be wide enough to support T-shaped waveguide shows a lower profile where 𝑎1 + 𝑎2 < 𝑎.
the resonant slot and the higher order modes should
be avoided over the working band. The length of 3. Design of 2 × 8 Antenna Array
the resonant radiating slot is around 𝜆, where 𝜆 =
8.57 mm is the wavelength at the center frequency. 3.1. Self-Admittance of Radiating Slot. As mentioned previ-
Considering that the slot should be rotated at a certain ously, the inclined radiating slots can be treated as the regular
angle, 𝑎1 can be shorter than 𝜆/2. ones which can also be equivalent to shunt admittance in the
(c) The heights 𝑎1 and 𝑎2 should be chosen to achieve the resonant state. The inclined angle refers to the admittance
demand guide wavelength. and the length of the slot is used to achieve the resonance.
The single slot model with period boundary condition (PBC)
Finally, 𝑏1 = 4.1 mm, 𝑎1 = 1.5 mm, and 𝑎2 = 2.94 mm are based on the T-shaped waveguide and normalized admit-
decided. To reveal the operating mechanism of these dimen- tance curve are shown in Figure 3 where the thickness and
sions, the parameter study is presented and the method is to the width of the slot are 0.5 mm and 0.6 mm, respectively. The
sweep one parameter and fix the others. Figure 2 illustrates admittance extractions are carried out by using 𝑆-parameter
the propagation constant curves where 𝛽R and 𝛽T represent results [8]. These obtained curves referring to the resonant
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 3

700 700
600 600
500 500
𝛽 (rad/m)

 (rad/m)
400 400
300 300
200 200
100 100
0 0
27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 58 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 58
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
𝛽R1 𝛽R2  R1  R2
𝛽T1 b1 = 3.9 mm 𝛽T2 b1 = 3.9 mm  T1 a1 = 1.3 mm  T2 a1 = 1.3 mm
𝛽T1 b1 = 4.0 mm 𝛽T2 b1 = 4.0 mm  T1 a1 = 1.4 mm  T2 a1 = 1.4 mm
𝛽T1 b1 = 4.1 mm 𝛽T2 b1 = 4.1 mm  T1 a1 = 1.5 mm  T2 a1 = 1.5 mm
𝛽T1 b1 = 4.2 mm 𝛽T2 b1 = 4.2 mm  T1 a1 = 1.6 mm  T2 a1 = 1.6 mm
𝛽T1 b1 = 4.3 mm 𝛽T2 b1 = 4.3 mm  T1 a1 = 1.7 mm  T2 a1 = 1.7 mm
(a) (b)
700
600
500
 (rad/m)

400
300
200
100
0
27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 58
Frequency (GHz)
 R1  R2
 T1 a2 = 2.74 mm  T2 a2 = 2.74 mm
 T1 a2 = 2.84 mm  T2 a2 = 2.84 mm
 T1 a2 = 2.94 mm  T2 a2 = 2.94 mm
 T1 a2 = 3.04 mm  T2 a2 = 3.04 mm
 T1 a2 = 3.14 mm  T2 a2 = 3.14 mm
(c)

Figure 2: The propagation constant curves of rectangular waveguide and T-shaped waveguide versus frequency in dominant mode and
second higher mode versus (a) 𝑏1 , (b) 𝑎1 , and (c) 𝑎2 .

4.50 0.5

0.4
Resonant slot length (mm)

Normalized admittance

4.45
PBC
0.3

l
a 0.2
4.40

0.1

4.35 0.0
10.0 12.5 15.0 17.5 20.0 22.5 25.0
Angle (degree)

Figure 3: Normalized admittance and resonant length regarding the inclined angle.
4 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

Top view
#1 #2 #3 #4 Slot pair
Subarray
② + − ①
x
H-to-E bend
③ − + ④
x transition
z y
Radiating slots z

y Ra
dia
tin
g T-s
hap
ed 2.5 mm
wa
veg
uid
es
Feeding slot

Feeding waveguide z

z
Coupling waveguides x
y x y
Right side view
Coupling slots

3D view

z
Left side view 3.556 mm y 7.112 mm 7.5 mm
5.25 mm
+ −
+ x
Y-junction
+ −
−
Bottom view
E-type T-junction

Figure 4: Structure of 2 × 8 antenna array.

admittance and the resonant length to angle variation are slots are as follows: amplitude ratio is 1.01 : 0.988 : 0.988 : 1 and
utilized to satisfy the input matching and the aperture field the phase difference is 0.79, −0.05, −0.24, and −0.98 (degree).
distributions. The PBC along waveguide direction is adopted Obviously, the uniform distribution of aperture is realized.
for the purpose of accurate design which considers the Due to the reversed slots of slot pair, the radiating
mutual coupling between slots. waveguides in subarray 1 and subarray 4 and subarray 2 and
subarray 3 should be fed out-of-phase. The symbols + and
3.2. Antenna Array Structure. The slot pair consisting of two − in figures denote out-of-phase condition. Two Y-junctions
reverse inclined slots is introduced in the 2 × 8 antenna array and an 𝐸-type T-junction are designed for equal power
to suppress the cross-polarization as depicted in Figure 4. splitting with in-phase and out-of-phase condition. Four 𝐻-
Four subarrays are designed and fed from outside edge. The to-𝐸 bend transitions are invented to connect the radiating
uniform distribution of aperture is desired and all slots have waveguides and the coupling waveguides. According to the
the same admittance of 0.25. The slot length and the inclined mirror symmetry, the coupling slots in subarrays 1 and 4
angle can be evaluated from Figure 3 by an interpolation are placed in opposite direction to achieve the out-of-phase
method. However, the actual boundary conditions of the slots condition. The subarrays 2 and 3 have the same property.
are different owing to the mutual coupling from the adjacent Finally, the out-of-phase conditions between the adjacent
slots, the effect of short end from radiating waveguide, and radiating waveguides are obtained and all slots are fed in-
feeding port. Therefore, the dimensions of slots are optimized phase.
individually and the final dimensions of slots from 1 to 4
are as follows: slot length = 4.42, 4.36, 4.36, and 4.43 (mm) 3.3. Simulation and Analysis. The simulated 𝐸-plane radia-
and inclined angle = 17.6, 18.6, 20.35, and 20.15 (degree). The tion patterns at the center frequency of antenna array are
radiation amplitude ratio and phase difference of the four shown in Figure 5. As is known to all, the theoretical sidelobe
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 5

20

10

Radiation pattern (dBi)

0

−10

−20

−30

−40

−50
−90 −60 −30 0 30 60 90
Angle (deg)
Radiation pattern in E-plane y polarization in E-plane
x polarization in E-plane z polarization in E-plane

Figure 5: Simulated 𝐸-plane radiation patterns at 35 GHz.

level (SLL) of the uniform array is around −13.2 dB and about 45∘ which contributes to the far-out sidelobe. For the
then tapered from the first sidelobe to far-out sidelobe. The antenna with fences, most of the power flow is along the
simulated gain is 19.1 dBi and the observed SLL is −15 dB boresight.
with almost uniform value over a wide angle range which is To demonstrate the analysis of these structures, the
different from the theoretical situation. radiation pattern of slotted waveguide antenna based on the
To figure out the reason, the radiation pattern in 𝐸- regular waveguide and a T-shaped waveguide with/without
plane is separated into 𝑥, 𝑦, and 𝑧 components as shown fences are depicted in Figure 7. The spacings between slots
in Figure 5 which denote the corresponding polarization of the three antenna arrays are all 7.5 mm. For the regular
radiation pattern in 𝐸-plane. It can be seen that the 𝑦 compo- waveguide, the width and height are 2 mm and 5.21 mm,
nent is copolarization and the others are cross-polarizations. respectively, which can provide the same guide wavelength
The 𝑥 component is suppressed well by the slot pairs but as the proposed one. It is clear that the gains of the proposed
the 𝑧 component is intense at the far-out sidelobe. The 𝑧 antenna arrays are much higher than the regular one due
component is excited by radiating slots and then propagates to the broad top wall which contributes larger aperture size.
as TM surface wave [11] to the edges of antenna array as The first SLL of the antenna array with fences is 13.51 dB and
depicted in Figure 6(a) which means the edge diffractions the far-out sidelobe is well suppressed compared with the
influence the radiation pattern. others. Furthermore, the fences between slots can correct the
To suppress the surface wave, the metal fences [12] are polarization and more energy is radiated in 𝑦-polarization
introduced between slots as shown in Figure 6(b). The height which is benefit for the gain enhancement. The simulated gain
of fences is 𝑓ℎ = 𝜆/4 and the width of the fences is 𝑓𝑤 is improved from the regular one of 16.22 dBi to the proposed
= 2 mm. Owing to the effect of fences, the dimensions of one of 19.1 dBi and enhanced to 20.21 dBi by the fences.
radiating slots should be modified. The optimal values from
slot 1 to slot 4 are as follows: slot length = 4.65, 4.65, 4.65, 4. Fabrication and Measurement Results
and 4.57 (mm) and inclined angle = 20.5, 20.5, 20.5, and
20.5 (degree). It can be found that the differences between In order to demonstrate our design, the proposed 2 × 8
slots are decreased compared with the original one which antenna array was fabricated and assembled by screws and
demonstrate the mutual coupling suppression by the metal alignment pins as shown in Figure 8. The return loss was
fences. The radiation amplitude ratio and phase difference of measured by using Agilent E8363C vector network analyzer.
slots from 1 to slot 4 are also calculated: the amplitude ratio is Figure 9 shows the simulated and measured return loss. The
1 : 1 : 1.05 : 1.08 and the phase difference is 0, −0.65, 0.66, and measured locus is in good agreement with the simulation.
−5.38. Therefore, the uniform aperture excitation is realized. The simulated and measured impedance bandwidths with a
The 𝐸-field distribution in the 𝑦-𝑧 plane is shown in return loss better than 15 dB are from 33.85 GHz to 35.82 GHz
Figure 6(c) for comparison. On the edge of the waveguide, (5.63%) and 33.96 GHz to 36.29 GHz (6.66%), respectively.
the 𝐸-field of the original antenna is obviously stronger than The simulated and measured radiation patterns at 35 GHz
the fenced one. As described previously, the edge diffractions are shown in Figure 10. The measured copolarization radi-
may influence the radiation pattern and the power flow ation patterns in 𝐸-plane and 𝐻-plane are in good agree-
distribution is shown in Figure 6(d) for demonstration. The ment with the simulations. The measured cross-polarization
power flow direction on the edge of the original antenna is levels in 𝐸-plane and 𝐻-plane are both less than −25 dB.
6 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

Ed
ge
Metal fences

diff
ra
c ti
ve

on
wa
ce
rfa
Su
Ez
Ey
Ex

fℎ
Ed

fw
ge
di
ff
ra
c ti
on

(a) (b)
v/m (log) vA/m2 (log)
1500 15000
1363 7834
1226 4089
1089 2131
953 1108
Diffraction 816 Contribution to the far-out sidelobe 574
680 294
544 148
408 71.7
272 31.8
136 10.9
0 0
(c) (d)

Figure 6: (a) Radiation analysis of antenna array. (b) Antenna array with metal fences. (c) 𝐸-field distribution. (d) Power flow distribution
in the 𝑦-𝑧 plane at 35 GHz.

25
20
15
Radiation pattern (dBi)

10
5
0
−5
−10
−15
−20
−25
−90 −60 −30 0 30 60 90
Angle (deg)
Regular waveguide
With metal fences
Without metal fences

Figure 7: Radiation pattern of slot antenna based on the regular waveguide, the T-shaped waveguide with/without fences in 𝐸-plane at
35 GHz.
International Journal of Antennas and Propagation 7

22

100%
21
90%

Gain (dBi)
80%
20

70%
Figure 8: Photography of the fabricated 2 × 8 antenna array. 19
60%

18
34.0 34.5 35.0 35.5 36.0
0 Frequency (GHz)

−5 Sim.
Mea.
−10 Figure 11: Gain and antenna efficiency of the proposed antenna
−15 array at 35 GHz.
|S11| (dB)

−20

−25 The frequency characteristics of gain and antenna aperture

−30 efficiency are depicted in Figure 11. It can be found that the
measured gains are a little less than the simulations owing
−35 to the conductor loss. The maximum gain of 19.98 dBi is
measured at 35 GHz and the corresponding antenna aperture
−40
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 efficiency is 80.27%.
Frequency (GHz)
Sim. 5. Conclusions
Mea.
A 2 × 8 antenna array based on T-shaped cross-section
Figure 9: Simulated and measured return loss of 2 × 8 antenna array. waveguide working at Ka-band is proposed. The operating
mode of the waveguide is analyzed and designed to operate in
dominant mode over the working band. Compared with the
rectangular waveguide, the T-shaped waveguide has a lower
profile and the broadened top plates can support the resonant
0 radiating slots without cutting into the adjacent broad walls.
−5 To suppress the surface wave, the metal fences are introduced
−10 between slots and the radiation performance is improved.
The measured results agree well with the simulations which
Radiation pattern (dB)

−15
validate our design. This novel structure has great potential
−20 application in communication and radar systems.
−25
−30 Disclosure
−35
An earlier version of this work was presented as a conference
−40
paper at iWAT, 2015.
−45
−50
−90 −60 −30 0 30 60 90
Conflicts of Interest
Angle (deg) The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Sim. co-pol in H-plane Mea. x-pol in H-plane
Sim. co-pol in E-plane Mea. co-pol in E-plane
Mea. co-pol in H-plane Mea. x-pol in E-plane Acknowledgments
Figure 10: Simulated and measured normalized radiation pattern of This work was supported by China Postdoctoral Science
the 2 × 8 antenna array at 35 GHz. Foundation Funded Project under Grant 2016M591740.
8 International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

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