A X-/Ka-Band Linearly Polarized Low Profile Shared-Aperture Antenna Array for Satellite Applications

Abstract

An <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X-/Ka</i> -band shared aperture scanning antenna array for satellite applications is proposed. Firstly, a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Ka</i> -band antenna array operating at 30GHz is designed, which consists of 8 × 8 antenna elements in a triangular grid. Secondly, an <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</i> -band antenna array operating at 10GHz is designed, which consists of 4 × 4antenna elements in a rectangular grid. It is worth noting that the antenna elements of Ka band array and <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</i> -band array are planar microstrip dipole antennas to avoid structural overlap and reduce mutual coupling. Finally, by interleaving <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</i> -band antenna elements and <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Ka</i> -band antenna elements, the proposed <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X-/Ka</i> -band shared aperture antenna array can be obtained. Compared with the recently released dual band shared aperture antenna array, the profile of the proposed antenna array is only 0.05 times the air wavelength. The frequency ratio ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">f</i> <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>high</i></b> / <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">f</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>low</i></sub> ) of the proposed antenna array is 3.1, and the antenna number ratio ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">N</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>Ka</i></sub> / <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">N</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</sub> ) of the antenna array is 4. These two parameters are close, which can improve the aperture utilization of the array. The measurement results show that the scanning angles of the antenna array at 10GHz and 30GHz are 38° and 30°, respectively.