Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Marrakesh, Morocco, Mar.

2023, 2011 931

Design and Development of Monopulse Dual Mode Corrugated Horn

S. H. Mohseni Armaki1 , F. Hojat Kashani1 , J. Rashed-Mohassel2 , and M. Fallah1
1

Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Iran

2
University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract This paper describes the design and test of a small flare angle conical corrugated
feed horn antenna which can generate sum and difference patterns suitable for monopulse tracking
in remote sensing earth stations. The prototyped horn designed here operates in the frequency
range 79 GHz for sum mode and 7.59 GHz for difference mode. The gain of sum pattern is
22 dB with at least 32 dB cross-polarization. The measured results validate that the feed antenna
operation is satisfactory for 20% bandwidth.
1. INTRODUCTION

Momopulse refers to the ability to obtain complete angle error information on a single pulse. The
aim of monopulse antenna is to generate the signals required for azimuth and elevation plane error
channels. This feature may be achieved by either multiple antennas or multimode propagation feed
antenna. The last technique is found to be better in terms of size, complexity and accuracy.
Corrugated feed horns provide better performance and lower cross polarization levels than a
smooth walled horn. The monopulse antenna with corrugated feed is a reliable and accurate
automatic remote sensing satellite tracking system. It utilizes the higher order modes HE21 or
T E21 to perform is tracking task. For the circular polarization, it was sufficient to process the
signal of a single mode only. Now in the modern earth stations use of HE21 or T E21 is enough for
tracking in either linear or circular polarized cases [1].
In this paper, a simple wideband circularly polarized T E21 -mode tracking corrugated horn is
exhibited for application in remote sensing earth stations. It utilizes T E11 mode to produce sum
pattern and T E21 mode to provide the difference pattern. The horn operates in 7-9GHz for sum
mode and 7.59 GHz for difference mode. The design of the feed is done based on Granet et al.
report [6] and Clarricoats book [7] and it is simulated using HFSS code [8]. The final measurements
have shown satisfactory results with symmetrical E & H plane sum & difference radiation patterns,
good impedance matching with Rl < 18 dB over a bandwidth of 2 GHz, low cross polar levels and
good deep null.
2. FEED STRUCTURE

The schematic drawing of tracking corrugated horn is shown in Fig. 1. It consists of input mode
converter and a conventional corrugated horn.
Input waveguide is exited by T E11 mode, and a mode converter is required to convert T E11
& T E21 modes to HE11 & HE21 modes respectively. Any mismatch between the modes in the
circular waveguide and the modes in the throat section of the corrugated horn will give rise to
mode conversion to higher order modes. There are three types of mode converters. In this paper,
we have used variable-depth-slot mode converter. Because of the excitation of unwanted mode and
reduction in efficiency, the mode converter is an important element.
A small flare conical corrugated horn structure is designed and analyzed using HFSS code. The
targets of the design are: to reduce cross-polarization level for desired frequency bandwidth, to
ensure transmission of HE11 & HE21 modes only, and keep the aperture efficiency high for sum &
difference patterns.
3. MODE CONVERTER

To ensure good propagation conditions for HE11 & HE21 modes, the radius at the input to the
mode converter should be chosen such that kl am 3.054 where kL is free space wave number
corresponding to lowest frequency, fL = 7.5 GHz. Here, we choose am = 21 mm.
Figure 2 can be used to choose the depth of the first slot. When fH = 9 GHz, the first slot
admittance S1 should be infinite. From the intersection point of straight line kH am = 3.95, we
get the longitudinal coordinate of that point r1 /r0 = 0.53(w/p = 0.78) that is s1 = 18.3 mm. The
other parameters according to [6] are as follows: number of mode converter slots, NM c = 5, slot
pitch, p = 7 mm, s2 = 16.5 mm, s3 = 14.8 mm, s4 = 13 mm, and s5 = 11 mm.

PIERS Proceedings, Marrakesh, MOROCCO, March 2023, 2011

932

Figure 1: Schematic drawing of a circular corrugated horn.

Figure 2: Parametric dependence curves of special points on characteristics m = 1 and m = 2 modes.

Simulation of the converter can be done by approximating the mode converter as a series of
constant diameter corrugated waveguides. The results from field matching studies supports that a
prefect match will be obtained when the guide wavelengths in the two waveguides have the same
value [7]. Sharp changes in guide wavelength along the mode converter are indicative of a change
in impedance and can cause higher order modes to be exited.
Curves of Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show the normalized guide wavelength against normalized slot depth
for various normalized inner radii for HE11 & HE21 modes respectively [7]. These curves are related
for the fields with a slot width of 0.1and ridge width of 0.05. Matching trajectory for corrugated
mode converter obtained by plotting the inner radius and slot depth for each corrugation. For an
assessment of good matching, the trajectory at the upper, center, and lower frequencies for HE11
& HE21 modes must be placed on the guide wavelength curves.
4. CORRUGATED HORN

Three dimensional structure of corrugated horn is chosen based on theoretical calculations [6]. The
semi angle 0 and radius of aperture a0 is determined by the required beamwidth and the operating
frequency. We choose a0 = 160 mm and 0 = 7 . 57 slots are used in this horn. Slots are resonant

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Marrakesh, Morocco, Mar. 2023, 2011 933

at balanced frequency of fc = 8.2 GHz. The slot parameters are: p = 7 mm, w = 5 mm and
s = 9.3 mm.
5. MEASUREMENTS

The tacking corrugated horn is realized and simulated for the frequency range 79 GHz. The horn
geometry is shown in Fig. 1. Analysis is carried out using HFSS code. The measured return loss is
shown in Fig. 5. It is observed that the return loss in the sum mode is better than 18 dB.

Figure 3: Trajectories of three frequencies for HE11

mode.

Figure 4: Trajectories of three frequencies for HE21

mode.

Figure 5: Measured return loss.

Figure 6: Simulated and measured E & H plane sum and difference radiation pattern; m: measured, s:
simulated.

934

PIERS Proceedings, Marrakesh, MOROCCO, March 2023, 2011

The measured and simulated sum and difference patterns at 7, 8, 8.5 and 9 GHz frequencies are
given in Fig. 6. It is observed that the sum copolar pattern demonstrate a high degree of symmetry.
The cross-polarization peak levels at mentioned frequencies are below 32 dB.
6. CONCLUSION

This paper presents the design and simulation of simple monopulse tracking circularly feed horn
for remote sensing earth stations. The feed design and simulation given here, has been validated
experimentally. Good agreement between simulation and experimental data is observed.
REFERENCES

1. Sakr, L., The higher order modes in the feeds of the satellite monopulser tracking antenna,
IEEE Melecon, 453457, May 79, Cairo, 2002.
2. Watson, B. K., N. D. Dang, and S. Gohsh, A mode extraction network for RF sensing in
satellite reflector antenna, Int. Conf. on Ant. & Prop. IEE Conf. Publ., 323327, April 1981.
3. Vu, T. B., Corrugated horn as high-performance monopulse feed, Int. J. Electronics, Vol. 34,
No. 4, 433444, April 1973.
4. Lenzing, E. H. and H. F. Lenzing, Characteristics of the TE21 mode in circular apertures as
used for satellite tracking, IEEE Trans. on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 37, No. 3,
11131117, July 2001.
5. Du, B., E. K. N. Yung, K. Z. Yang, and W. J. Zhang, Wide-band linearly or circularly polarized monopulse tracking corrugated horn, IEEE Trans. on Antenna and Propagat., Vol. 50,
No. 2, 192197, February 2002.
6. Granet, C. and G. L. James, Design of corrugated horns: A primer, IEEE Antennas and
Propagation Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 2, 7683, April 2005.
7. Clarricoats, P. J. B. and A. D. Olver, Corrugated horns for microwave antennas, IEE Electromagnetic Wave Series, 18, London, 1984.
8. HFSS, High frequency structure simulator, v 11, Finite Element Package, Ansoft Corp., 2008