Wideband flush-mounted surface wave antenna of very low profile

• Main Authors: Chen, Zhuozhu, Shen, Zhongxiang
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Antennas, wave guides, microwaves, radar, radio
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/96204; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/38458
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper presents the design of a compact and wideband surface wave antenna that exhibits very low profile and can be flush-mounted on a conformal platform. The proposed antenna comprises a tapered grounded ceramic slab, a unidirectional surface wave launcher, and a tapered impedance transition. The ceramic slab is smoothly tapered to transform the guided surface wave into radiated space wave over a wide frequency range. The surface wave launcher employs a probe-fed parallel plate waveguide with a modified parabolic reflecting wall and a metallic post, which are critical for effectively transforming the cylindrical waves to a unidirectional plane wave within a broad frequency range. Simulated results show that the proposed surface wave antenna achieves a wide operation bandwidth from 6.1 to 18 GHz with a thickness of only 0.12λ0 at the center frequency. Acceptable gain values with stable and quasi end-fire radiation beams are obtained over the entire frequency band. A prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated and tested. Measured results are in good agreement with simulated ones.