Fully Metallic Additively Manufactured Monopulse Horn Array Antenna in Ka-Band
The Laser Powder-Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing (LPBF AM) technique is evaluated for the manufacturing of fully metallic monolithic microwave components. To validate the manufacturing technique, a difference pattern array of 4 × 4 horn antennas is designed to operate at mm-Wave frequencies. The a...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/23/11065 |
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| Summary: | The Laser Powder-Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing (LPBF AM) technique is evaluated for the manufacturing of fully metallic monolithic microwave components. To validate the manufacturing technique, a difference pattern array of 4 × 4 horn antennas is designed to operate at mm-Wave frequencies. The antenna is based on <i>H</i>-plane power dividers and a complex structure to obtain a difference radiation pattern by rotating twisted sections in two different orientations. The prototype is manufactured with a monolithic piece of aluminum alloy AlSi10Mg, providing a lightweight single structure that includes both radiating elements and a feeding network consisting of twisters and power dividers in a waveguide. The prototype was experimentally evaluated in an anechoic chamber and the near-field planar acquisition range, obtaining good agreement with full-wave simulations within an operational bandwidth from 34 to 36 GHz. The results demonstrate that the LPBF AM technique is a suitable candidate to produce challenging monolithic metal-only microwave components in the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi mathvariant="normal">K</mi><mi mathvariant="normal">a</mi></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>-band, such as monopulse antennas. |
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| ISSN: | 2076-3417 |