3-D-Printed Phase-Rectifying Transparent Superstrate for Resonant-Cavity Antenna

Abstract

A three-dimensional (3-D)-printed nonplanar highly transmitting superstrate is presented to improve the directive radiation characteristics of a resonant-cavity antenna (RCA). Classical RCAs are reported with nonuniform aperture-field distribution that compromises their far-field directivity. The concept of near-field phase correction has been used here to design a phase-rectifying transparent superstrate (PRTS), which was fabricated using the 3-D printing technology. The PRTS is printed using easily accessible polylactic acid filament. It has a significantly lower cost and weight compared to its recently published counterparts, while its performance is comparable. The 3-D printing technology yielded the prototype in less than 4 h, which is considerably less compared to the traditional machining methods. Measurements of the prototype indicated close correspondence between the predicted and the measured results. Significant increase in the antenna performance has been achieved, due to the rectification of the aperture phase distribution. Notable aspects encompass 7.3 dB increase in the antenna peak directivity (from 13–20.3 dBi), significant sidelobe level suppression, and an improvement of aperture efficiency by 36.1%, with a PRTS that costs less than 2.5 USD.