ABSTRACT
A low-profile, wideband, and high-gain antenna array, based on a novel double-H-shaped slot microstrip patch radiating element and robust against high temperature variations, is proposed in this work. The antenna element was designed to operate in the frequency range between 12 GHz and 18.25 GHz, with a 41.3% fractional bandwidth (FBW) and an obtained peak gain equal to 10.2 dBi. The planar array, characterized by a feed network with a flexible 1 to 16 power divider, comprised 4 × 4 antenna elements and generated a pattern with a peak gain of 19.1 dBi at 15.5 GHz. An antenna array prototype was fabricated, and the measurements showed good agreement with the numerical simulations as the manufactured antenna operated in the range of 11.4-17 GHz, with a 39.4% FBW, and the peak gain at 15.5 GHz was 18.7 dBi. The high-temperature simulated and experimental results, performed in a temperature chamber, demonstrated that the array performance was stable in a wide temperature range, from -50 °C to 150 °C.
ABSTRACT
A method based on an interval arithmetic is proposed to analyze uncertain factors such as the curvature radii, excitation amplitude, and excitation phase of a spherical conformal array antenna. An interval description of element factors under different curvature radii of spherical substrates is established using the surrogate model based on the data obtained through a full-wave analysis method. The interval formula of the spherical curvature radius and array element position error is derived and the effects of the spherical radius tolerance, excitation amplitude tolerance, and excitation phase tolerance on the antenna power pattern are studied. To evaluate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method, a set of representative numerical results are reported and discussed and a comparison with the Monte Carlo methods and full-wave simulation is described. This method can be widely used during the antenna design and before the antenna prototyping/manufacturing to predict the effects, on the radiation performance, of possible errors/tolerances in the antenna structure to guarantee the antenna working 'in operation'.
