Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Xuyuan Pan

Publication Date

1-30-2013

Abstract

This work seeks designs of novel antennas, such as the rectangular waveguide narrow-wall longitudinal-aperture antenna arrays for S band high power applications. This antenna is designed to perform as a uniform array with minimum power reflected into the feed-waveguide. Based on the configuration, the double-narrow-wall-slot-array design is proposed for higher gain and grating lobes suppression. This work also deals with the S band compact narrow-wall slot-array proposed to be rendered as a conformal antenna structure. Moreover, this work proposes a circularly polarized narrow-wall longitudinal-aperture array design to produce both vertically and horizontally polarized radiated power. In the end, this work presents and discusses a couple of mechanisms for beam-steering of S band narrow-wall longitudinal-aperture array designs. The S-band narrow-wall longitudinal-aperture array design consists of four narrow wall longitudinal-slot radiators and one H-plane-bend-radiator. The design is a combination of computational and microwave network analysis techniques. First, HFSS is used to analyze the S-parameters, phases and radiated power of the narrow-wall longitudinal-slot radiators as well as the H-plane-bend radiator. Second the microwave network is applied to design a uniform linear array by neglecting the external coupling between the elements. Finally, Full-wave analysis is used to validate the array design from microwave network analysis. The double-narrow-wall slot-array design is the best narrow-wall longitudinal-slot array design with a peak gain of approximately 15dB. It consists of two identical narrow-wall-slot-arrays with a common broad wall. It has a much more uniform aperture electric field distributuion than the single array design. As a result, a higher gain with suppressed grating lobes is achieved. The S-band curved rectangular waveguide narrow-wall longitudinal-aperture antenna is proposed to perform as a conformal antenna structure. It is based on a rectangular waveguide bend so that it can be mounted easily on vehicles. It also consists of four narrow-wall longitudinal radiators and one H-plane-bend-radiator similar to the narrow-wall longitudinal slot-array. A circularly polarized narrow-wall longitudinal-aperture array design is also discussed. It produces both vertically and horizontally polarized radiated power. The configuration verified by simulation places adjacent narrow-wall longitudinal radiators orthogonally and keeps the centers of all four narrow-wall longitudinal radiators at the same level. A study of beam-steering capability is also conducted. It is divided into two parts. One moves the main beam on the plane orthogonal to the narrow-wall and orthogonal to the broad-wall of the rectangular waveguide. The other moves the main beam on the plane orthogonal to the narrow-wall and parallel to the broad-wall of the rectangular waveguide. The S-band narrow-wall longitudinal-slot array design works well both ways. Finally, the experiment is designed and conducted to validate the theoretical analysis results for the design of S-band narrow-wall longitudinal-slot array. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that there is good agreement between the theoretical and experiment results.

Keywords

Slot antennas, Antenna arrays, Wave guides.

Sponsors

U.S. Office of Naval Research Grant ONR N00014-09-1-1084, Lee Mastroianni, Program Manager.

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Electrical Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Constantine, Joseph

Second Committee Member

Christodoulou, Christos

Third Committee Member

Schamiloglu, Edl

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