Testing of the MESSENGER spacecraft phased-array antenna

The MESSENGER spacecraft, designed to orbit the planet Mercury, uses the first electronically scanned phased-array antenna for a deep-space telecommunication application. Two lightweight phased arrays, mounted on opposite sides of the spacecraft, provide the high-gain downlink coverage. Techniques for measurement of the phased-array antenna system include ambient temperature measurements in a compact antenna range, thermal vacuum testing, and spacecraft-level testing. There have been two novel developments in the characterization of the phased-array system. The first is a "gain envelope" response, which is a measurement of the gain of the array at the intended scan angle as the array is electrically scanned in 1/spl deg/ increments. This response was produced through a combination of hardware and test software to synchronize the gain measurement with the mechanical and electrical scanning. The second is a phase-steering verification test that utilizes couplers in each steered element in conjunction with previously measured element patterns to confirm that the antenna beam is steered property. This method allows functional verification of the phased-array system while radiating into an RF-absorber-lined hat during spacecraft-level tests.     

SIW 耦合馈电阵列天线

提出一种新型宽带、结构紧凑的基片集成波导(SIW)背腔阵列天线的设计方法。所设计的SIW 阵列由紧密相连的背腔构成馈电网络,每个背腔上开宽缝作为辐射单元。SIW 背腔天线单元紧密排列,主要通过单元间感性耦合窗耦合馈电。SIW 背腔既是辐射单元又能实现能量分配,不需加载额外的馈电网络,因此该阵列结构十分紧凑。工作在20 GHz 频段的2×2 SIW 耦合馈电阵和4×4 SIW 耦合馈电阵已加工实现,仿真和测试结果表明所提出的SIW阵列设计方法简单、阵列结构紧凑、天线辐射性能良好。另外,本文研究了高增益大规模阵列天线的组阵方法。在2×2 SIW 耦合馈电阵的基础上,采用8×8 SIW 并联馈电网络加载天线子阵的方法设计了16×16 宽带高增益SIW 阵列天线并进行了加工测试。结果表明,采用这种组阵方法,天线阵阵元排布紧密,天线具有带宽宽、增益高、损耗低等优点。     

Microstrip Yagi array antenna for mobile satellite vehicleapplication

A novel antenna structure formed by combining the Yagi-Uda array concept and the microstrip radiator technique is discussed. This antenna, called the microstrip Yagi array, has been developed for the mobile satellite (MSAT) system as a low-profile, low-cost, and mechanically steered medium-gain land-vehicle antenna. With the antenna's active patches (driven elements) and parasitic patches (reflector and director elements) located on the same horizontal plane, the main beam of the array can be tilted, by the effect of mutual coupling, in the elevation direction providing optimal coverage for users in the continental United States. Because the parasitic patches are not connected to any of the lossy RF power distributing circuit the antenna is an efficient radiating system. With the complete monopulse beamforming and power distributing circuits etched on a single thin stripline board underneath the microstrip Yagi array, the overall L -band antenna system has achieved a very low profile for vehicle rooftop mounting, as well as a low manufacturing cost. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of this antenna     

Monolithically Integrated Corporate-Fed Cavity-Backed Antennas

A Ka-band monolithically integrated 4 times 1 corporate-fed cavity-backed patch antenna array is demonstrated in this paper. A single antenna element has four slits introduced to extend the bandwidth to about 8%. Its gain and radiation efficiency are 6.3 dBi and 97%, respectively. A rectangular mu-coaxial line based combining network is monolithically integrated with radiating elements in a slightly modified tile configuration. Specifically, to reduce the array footprint power dividers are aligned along the array axis. Combining network has height 1/2 that of the array and feed lines do not route through the antenna elements. Overall loss of the combining network is 0.5 dB at 30 GHz. Measured reflection coefficient bandwidth and maximum gain of the fabricated 4 times 1 corporate-fed array are 13.7% and 12.73 dBi, respectively. The array is designed and fabricated in a recently developed surface micromachining process known as PolyStrata.     

小型化微带双频阵列天线

微带天线由于其低剖面、低成本、易于加工的特点已经成为天线家族中的重要成员。 为了在有限空间中实现天线小型化，同时形成两种不同的工作频率，本文通过采用在矩形辐射贴片中添加短路壁，形成具有半模特性的辐射贴片，并且将具有不同谐振的贴片组合，实现微带小型化双频阵列天线。     

60-GHz CPW-fed post-supported patch antenna using micromachining technology

A 60-GHz coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed post-supported patch antenna is presented using micromachining technology. In the proposed structure, the radiating patch and the feed line network can be optimized separately with a substrate. The antenna performance is improved by elevating the patch in the air. A patch array antenna is also designed with a simple feed network. The fabricated antenna shows broad band characteristics such as -10 dB bandwidth of 4.3GHz from 58.7GHz to 64.5GHz in the single patch antenna and 8.7GHz from 56.3GHz to 65GHz in 2/spl times/1 patch array antenna.     

Efficient models for base station antennas for human exposure assessment

Two simple and accurate models for base-station (BS) panel antennas are proposed for human-exposure assessment. Panel antennas comprise an antenna array with low coupling between its unit cells. The proposed model is based on the superposition of shifted radiating field contributions in amplitude and phase of a unit cell of the panel antenna. In the first model, the electric field is obtained via a full wave analysis of the antenna unit cell. In the second model, a far-field approximation of the unit cell is utilized, and is valid at about two wavelengths away from the antenna. It is shown that the second model can be used as an interactive tool for the verification of compliance to exposure limits of BS panel antennas as required by standards.     

A built-in performance-monitoring/fault isolation and correction(PM/FIC) system for active phased-array antennas

A built-in performance-monitoring/fault isolation and correction (PM/FIC) system for an active phased-array antenna has been developed and tested. This PM/FIC system employs a transmission line signal injector embedded at the radiating aperture together with a phase-toggling technique for signal detection. Hardware components for a demonstration test-array have been developed, fabricated, and assembled. Eight active elements are fed by four dual-channel transmit/receive (T/R) modules in a column array. Far-field range tests and fault correction tests have also been performed to demonstrate the PM/FIC functions on this test array. Good results have been obtained from these tests. The measurement accuracy of the phase-toggling method is compared with an HP8510 measurement system     

Millimeter wave components for electronically controllable antennas

Many present and future military and commercial systems operating at millimeter wave frequencies require the use of sophisticated electronically controllable antennas for maximum capability and flexibility. Electronic control of the antenna pattern is provided by electronically switchable phase control of each radiating element such as that achieved in phased array antennas or via electronically reconfigurable antenna feeds referred to as beam forming networks (BFN). Multibeam antennas provided by BFN'S can be realized using switches, variable power dividers (VPD), and phase shifters. Ferrite materials and associated application technology are being utilized to achieve these switchable RF control components at millimeter wave frequencies. The performance achievable in ferrite switchable circulators, variable power dividers and phase shifters in the frequency region from 20 to 100 GHz is discussed.     

Full-wave simulation,design and implementation of a new combination of antenna array feed network integrated in low profile microstrip technology

In this paper, a new modified combination of antenna and array feed network integrated in low thickness microstrip technology is presented. A concept similar to the concept of coherently radiating periodic structures is used to feed a 4-element antenna array. In the feed network, a new combination of Gysel-based 3 and 5 port components as power dividers/combiners is employed to propagate the power into the antenna array so that the desired Gaussian-like amplitudes and linear phase distributions can be obtained. These multi-port components are modified to design the feed network by single-layer microstrip technology without the matching and isolation circuits and through-substrate vias. Therefore, the manufacturing cost and difficulty and design complexity are reduced, considerably. Full-wave simulations of the feed network, unit cells and the final integrated antenna array are done, step by step and the results considering all possible losses are presented. To validate the designs, two prototypes, first the feed network and second the integrated module including both antenna array and feed network designed at 3.5 GHz were fabricated and measured and the S parameters (amplitude and phase) were compared with the full-wave simulations. A good agreement between the results including impedance and radiation characteristics is shown.     

一维液晶全息编码相控阵天线设计与实现

针对小型极化相控阵雷达精确信号目标探测应用背景,为降低传统T/R相控阵天馈系统设计及调试复杂度,满足低功耗、低损耗、低成本制造、轻薄等应用需求,提出了一种液晶全息编码相控阵天线.主体采用小型化全息辐射单元、慢波结构、平行板波导馈电系统构成的一维全息电控扫描相控阵天线,利用成熟液晶面板制造工艺,通过控制全息辐射单元下方液晶分子的偏转状态调节天线谐振频点,组成全息编码相控阵天线.天线结构通过仿真优化确定,并在实物加工和测量基础上通过全息优化算法及电压灰度控制降低由耦合作用引入的副瓣性能恶化度,用梯度递减的搜索算法结合适当的目标函数优化算法实现方向图的最优控制.实测结果表明,该天线的波束扫描角度达到±49°,经过算法优化后,波束指向角准确度改善3°,旁瓣抑制电平改善1.7 dB.     

Internal Ultrawideband Monopole Antenna for Wireless USB Dongle Applications

A novel, ultrawideband (UWB) monopole antenna suitable to be mounted on the printed circuit board (PCB) of a wireless, universal, serial-bus (USB) dongle as an internal antenna is presented. The proposed antenna in the study is a U-shaped, metal-plate monopole antenna, easily fabricated from bending a simple metal plate onto a foam base of a compact size of 6times11times20 mm³. The antenna mainly comprises a pair of wide-ended radiating arms and a bevel-feed transition. When the antenna is mounted at the top portion of the PCB, one end of the radiating arm is also short-circuited to the system ground plane. With the proposed antenna structure, which can provide a very wide operating bandwidth of larger than 7.6 GHz, the antenna impedance bandwidth can easily cover the 3.1-10.6 GHz UWB band. Details of the antenna design are described, and experimental results of the constructed prototypes are presented and discussed     

The design of a microstrip antenna array for a UHF space telemetry link

An array of microstrip antenna panels was designed for use on a small instrumented satellite as part of a 400-MHz telemetry link between that satellite and NASA's shuttle spacecraft. A roughly omnidirectionalphi-plane pattern was desired. The 1.4-wavelength diameter of the satellite and the various ports and structures on its surface presented strong constraints on the antenna array design. Eight antennas, each one a quarter-wavelength panel with one radiating and one shorted edge, were chosen. Aphi-plane pattern ripple of 4.4 dB and a gain of at least 0.1 dB relative to a half-wavelength dipole were realized. The design technique used for the individual antenna panels included the study of feed-point location for impedance matching and the effect of losses in the dielectric. A superposition method was used to synthesize the radiation patterns for different numbers and different excitations of antennas on the satellite.     

微带线馈电的宽带单层贴片天线

微带贴片天线已广泛应用于雷达系统,文中介绍了一种新型背腔式单层微带贴片天线,辐射贴片采用微带线馈电,为增加工作带宽,提供了两种不同的贴片形状,第一种是E形贴片,仿真及测试结果表明,此种单元在驻波比优于2的条件下可实现45%的阻抗带宽,但该单元的波瓣带宽较窄。为抑制交叉极化,通过在E形贴片上开四个槽,得到了第二种改进的E形贴片。该单元可实现14%的频带内驻波比优于1.5,同时交叉极化优于-15dB。对C波段8×16单元实验小阵的测试结果表明,该天线在17.9%的频段内具有良好的交叉极化性能及较高的工作效率。     

抑制共模噪声的SIW 平衡馈电差分缝隙天线阵*

提出一种利用差分天线在共模激励和差模激励下方向图不同来抑制共模噪声的方法,并基于该理论 设计了6×6 平衡馈电差分SIW 缝隙天线阵进行验证。该天线由6个宽边纵向SIW 缝隙天线子阵列组成。辐射缝隙 被设计为只在差模激励下辐射,达到抑制共模信号的目的。每个天线子阵采用平衡差分馈电方式,使用两个1分6 梳状功分器将6个子阵同时激励。整个天线使用标准PCB 工艺加工,为了测试共模和差模激励,分别设计了带有 180°相移的功分器和T型功分器用来生成差模和共模信号。在差模激励下,天线的最大增益为20.2dBi,S11幅值小 于-10dB 带宽为7.2%(39.6 ~43.8GHz),在共模激励下天线的最大增益为10.1dBi,在整个工作频段内S11幅值大于 -7dB。仿真和实验结果验证了该结构的SIW 缝隙天线对差模信号能够有效地辐射而对共模信号进行抑制。     

Electronically steerable Yagi-Uda microstrip patch antenna array

This paper describes a dual-frequency circularly polarized electronically steerable microstrip patch antenna array suitable for land-mobile communications. Based on a four-element Yagi-Uda (1928) patch antenna, the four antennas forming the array are located radially from a single square reflector patch on a double-sided printed circuit board. The main lobe of the array covers the elevation angles from 20 to 70° with a peak gain of 8.4 dBi at 1.54 GHz and 11.7 dBi at 1.62 GHz. Full azimuthal coverage is possible by electronically switching between the four elements     

Microstrip antennas for SAR applications

This paper discusses various methods of implementing a shared-aperture dual-frequency dual-polarized array antenna for spaced-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) applications. After evaluating the use of several potential array architecture concepts and radiating elements, a design using interlaced C-band microstrip patches and X-band printed slot elements was chosen as the best choice for the present system requirements. Layout considerations for the two arrays and their associated feed networks are addressed in terms of a practical design. A dual-frequency (C- and X-band), dual-linear polarized SAR array antenna prototype was designed, fabricated, and tested. The principal goal of this effort was to demonstrate the viability of the dual-band dual-polarized array concept, and this has been accomplished. Test results are shown with good correlation between measured and predicted results, validating the design approach used. This work demonstrates that a dual-frequency dual-polarization SAR antenna within a single aperture is a feasible approach to meeting user requirements in future SAR spacecraft     

Dual-polarized slot-coupled patch antennas on Duroid with teflonlenses for 76.5-GHz automotive radar systems

A dual-polarized 76.5-GHz microstrip patch and teflon lens antenna system was designed, constructed, and tested. A receiver (RX) array of three dual-polarized microstrip patches was coupled through a 10-cm-diameter lens to produce radiation patterns with 3° beamwidths and beam crossovers of -3 dB. The transmitter (TX) consisted of a single dual-polarized microstrip patch coupled through a 2.5-cm-diameter lens to produce a 10° beamwidth. Slot-coupled patches were used to isolate the microstrip feed circuit from the radiating elements. The antennas and feeds were fabricated on commercially available 5880 Duriod substrates. Cross-polarization levels were less than -20 dB and were typically less than -30 dB over the entire beam at the design frequency. First sidelobe levels were no greater than -15 dB and were typically closer to -20 dB. Stepped and unstepped versions of the 10-cm-diameter receive lens were designed and fabricated. Antenna system sidelobes levels were lower with the stepped lens while the cross-polarization levels were comparable     

Sidelobe Reduction of Low‐Profile Array Antenna Using a Genetic Algorithm

A low‐profile phased array antenna with a low sidelobe was designed and fabricated using a genetic algorithm (GA). The subarray distances were optimized by GA with chromosomes of 78 bits, a population of 100, a crossover probability of 0.9, and a mutation probability of 0.005. The array antenna has 24 subarrays in 14 rows, and is designed as a mobile terminal for Ku‐band satellite communication. The sidelobe level was suppressed by 6.5 dB after optimization, compared to the equal spacing between subarrays. The sidelobe level was verified from the far‐field pattern measurement by using the fabricated array antenna with optimized distance.     

一种低成本星载宽角扫描相控阵天线设计

设计了一种工作于X频段的星载圆极化相控阵天线。相控阵天线单元的馈电探针与连接器进行了一体化设计,消除了焊点,提高了阵面的可靠性;同时阵列单元周围加载金属腔体结构,降低了单元间的耦合,展宽了天线波束,提高了阵列的扫描增益;阵面为全金属结构,可实现相控阵的均温性与内部热量的辐射,阵面自身具有较强的空间抗辐照能力,同时也能对相控阵内部的有源器件提供良好的辐照屏蔽。相控阵有源组件和合成网络采用瓦片架构,具有轻量化和低剖面的特点。所设计相控阵天线具有±60°宽角扫描能力和4%的工作带宽。