Design of a Dual-Polarization All-Metal Vivaldi Array Antenna Using a Metal 3D Printing Method for High-Power Jamming Systems

Abstract

This paper proposes an all-metal Vivaldi array antenna with a wide-angle impedance matching (WAIM) layer for high-power jamming systems. To reduce fabrication complexity and time, the proposed array antenna is manufactured using a metal 3D printing method. The Vivaldi unit cell, composed of a radiating flare part and an inner cavity, is extended into an 8 × 8 array with a ±45° slant configuration. To further enhance the beam steering angle, the WAIM layer is placed on top of the proposed array antenna. The performances of the proposed array antenna, such as its active reflection coefficients (ARC), gains, and array radiation patterns, are investigated in a full anechoic chamber. At a steering angle of (θ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> = 45°, ϕ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> = 25°), the measured and simulated average ARCs of the center element (Port 36) with the WAIM layer are –13.2 dB and –18.5 dB, respectively. At 4 GHz, the measured and simulated bore-sight gains of the proposed array antenna are 19 dBi and 20.6 dBi, respectively. In addition, the measured and simulated bore-sight gains for the (θ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> = 45°, ϕ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> = 0°) steering angle in the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">zx</i> -plane are 18 dBi and 21 dBi, respectively. In the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">zy</i> -plane, bore-sight gains for the (θ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> = 45°, ϕ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> = 0°) steering angle are 19.3 dBi by measurement and 19.1 dBi by simulation. These results demonstrate that the proposed array antenna is suitable for high-power jamming systems because stable bore-sight gains are observed even at wide steering angles without unwanted grating lobes.