Waveguide Manufacturing Technologies for Next-Generation Millimeter-Wave Antennas.

Lucas Polo-López,Jorge Ruiz-Cruz,Jesús Rebollar,Juan Córcoles,Eduardo García-Marín,Pablo Sanchez-Olivares,José Montejo-Garai,José Masa-Campos

doi:10.3390/mi12121565

Abstract

Some recent waveguide-based antennas are presented in this paper, designed for the next generation of communication systems operating at the millimeter-wave band. The presented prototypes have been conceived to be manufactured using different state-of-the-art techniques, involving subtractive and additive approaches. All the designs have used the latest developments in the field of manufacturing to guarantee the required accuracy for operation at millimeter-wave frequencies, where tolerances are extremely tight. Different designs will be presented, including a monopulse antenna combining a comparator network, a mode converter, and a spline profile horn; a tunable phase shifter that is integrated into an array to implement reconfigurability of the main lobe direction; and a conformal array antenna. These prototypes were manufactured by diverse approaches taking into account the waveguide configuration, combining parts with high-precision milling, electrical discharge machining, direct metal laser sintering, or stereolithography with spray metallization, showing very competitive performances at the millimeter-wave band till 40 GHz.

Highlights

The development of new wireless systems in the millimeter-wave band for diverse applications such as satellite communications, radar systems, or the different scenarios foreseen for the fifth-generation wireless technology radio [1,2], creates an increasing demand for novel antennas with very challenging requirements for their compactness, weight, and radiofrequency performance
There can be problems with adhesion of the metal to the plastic. This process must be well-controlled to obtain a high-quality surface finish. This approach can overcome certain roughness problems that appear in direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) devices, while producing lighter and less expensive devices
This article has presented an overview of different manufacturing techniques for state-of-the-art waveguide-based devices for the front-end of communication systems at the millimeter-wave band

Summary

Introduction

The development of new wireless systems in the millimeter-wave band for diverse applications such as satellite communications, radar systems, or the different scenarios foreseen for the fifth-generation wireless technology radio [1,2], creates an increasing demand for novel antennas with very challenging requirements for their compactness, weight, and radiofrequency performance. The development of the high-frequency circuits and antennas for these emergent systems requires appropriate manufacturing techniques, which have advanced continuously during recent decades. AM has several advantages, such as the ability to use customized geometries with diverse materials. These properties have been successfully applied to microwave circuits [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. The goal of this paper is to show how different manufacturing technologies coexist at the millimeter-wave band, where classical and modern approaches are combined to obtain optimum performance of circuits and antennas for the front-end of emergent high-frequency systems

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion