Compact waveguide broadband dual-polarized horn array with a novel orthomode transducer in Ku-band for high-power SAR systems

Abstract

A novel compact waveguide-based broadband and dual-polarized Ku-band Synthetic Aperture Radar antenna with a high level of isolation between polarizations and high input power level has been designed for small platforms and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The antenna design is composed of 8 dual-polarized horn antennas in an array configuration fed through a very efficient and novel structure to generate two orthogonal polarizations based on a orthomode transducer to achieve a large bandwidth and an excellent isolation between polarizations needed in a polarimetric system. Finally, as the antenna will be placed inside a pod under the UAV wings it must be lightweight, robust and of small size.