Size reduction of a conical horn antenna loaded by multi‐layer metamaterial lens

Abstract

In this paper, a conical horn antenna in the presence of a metamaterial lens in the X-band is introduced and fabricated. The annular metamaterial lens is located at the aperture of a shortened horn antenna, whose length is half the length of the corresponding optimum horn. The phase velocity in the metamaterial lens is more than the phase velocity along the axis of the antenna for the same propagation distance, so the phase distribution at the aperture of the antenna is uniform and the gain of the shortened horn antenna increases. Metamaterial cells are designed in the form of a printed circuit board that have easy to build and suitable cost. The design process is based on how the waves incident on the proposed metamaterial cell, and finally, by using the particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm proper radiation characteristics in the desired frequency range can be achieved. The radiation characteristics of an antenna with a metamaterial lens are similar to that of an antenna with optimum length in the desired frequency band. The difference is that the weight and volume of these antennas are reduced, so they have better performance in satellite and radar systems.