Wide band wide scanning angle phased array antenna

design in Ku-band
Q.C. Zhang*(1), X.L. Zhang (1), Q.H. Lai(2)
(1)East China Research Institute of Electronic Engineering, Hefei, 230088, P. R. China
(2)Key Lab of Aperture Array and Space Application (KLAASA), Hefei, 230088, P. R. China
Email: zqcnjust@126.com

Abstract: A compact wide band phased array antenna is The commercial softwareAnsoft’s high frequency
presented. The proposed array antenna consists of 1024 elements structure simulator (HFSS) is used to analyze theperformac
providing wide band and wide scanning angle in Ku-band. The
array antenna is fed by a microstripbalun printed on the bottom
side of the dielectric substrate (Rogers RO3450 substrate,
withεr=3.66 and thickness of 0.508 mm), while a dipole with
parasitic structures is placed on the top side of the same substrate.
With this simple arrangement, a wide band design is realized for
beam scanning angle of±45°phased array antenna in Ku-band.
Details of the proposed antenna design are described and simulated
results are presented. Fig. 1. Structure of the dipole antenna. (a) 3-D view. (b) Top view. (c)
bottom view
Keywords: wide scanning angle,microstripbalun-fed, dipole
antenna, array antenna -e of the antenna. Fig. 2 shows the voltage standing wave
ratio (VSWR) coefficient versus frequency at various
I. INTRODUCTION scanning anglesin the azimuth plane. It can be seen that the
coefficient of VSWR is less than 1.9 in whole Ku-band. Fig.
Planar antennas are very popular in phased array, satellite
3 shows far-field radiation patterns of the antenna at 12GHz,
communication systems, and airborne applications [1-3]
15 GHz and 18 GHz in normal direction. It can be seen that
because of their wide band, light weight, ease of manufacture
the antenna gain decreases as the frequency increases.
and low cost. The increasing demand for detecting
requirements motivated our research to study a phased array 3.0

antenna with small deviation in antenna gain at large 2.8 0

scanning angle of -45 in the azimuth plane
scanning angle for a Ku-band phased array system. 2.6 0
scanning angle of -30 in the azimuth plane
0
2.4 scanning angle of -15 in the azimuth plane
0

In this paper, a study of microstripbalun-fed 32×32 array 2.2

scanning angle of 0 in the azimuth plane
0
scanning angle of 15 in the azimuth plane
antenna operating Ku-band that is capable of ±45
VSWR

0
2.0 scanning angle of 30 in the azimuth plane
degreesbeam scanning angle in azimuth planeis presented.
0
scanning angle of 45 in the azimuth plane
1.8

1.6
II. ANTENNA DESIGN
1.4

A. Microstrip balun-fed single dipole 1.2

In order to obtain a better understanding of the bandwidth 1.0

12 13 14 15 16 17 18
and radiation performance of microstripbalun-fed dipole Frequency (GHz)
phased array antenna, a single vertical-polarization dipole
Fig. 2. VSWR of the single dipole at various scanning anglesin the
antenna element with 2-dimension periodic boundary is azimuth plane
firstly considered. E-plane of the antenna is elevation plane,
while H-plane of the antenna is azimuth plane. Beam 7.5

scanning angles of ±45 degrees in the azimuth plane is

required. 5.0

The dipoles along the azimuth plane are arranged at a

spacing distance of 8.7mm, while the antenna elements along 2.5
Gain (dBi)

the elevation plane are arranged at a spacing distance of

around 0.6λ15GHz. The geometry of the element is shown in 0.0 12GHz
15GHz
Fig. 1. It is seen that the configuration is very similar to the 18GHz
conventional dipole [4], except parasitic structures are added. -2.5

The director is used to achieve a better radiation performance,

while the parasitic stub is placed for a wider bandwidth. -5.0
-90 -80 -70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Theta (deg)

(a)

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 7.5 40
35
30
25
5.0
20
15
10
2.5 5

Gain (dBi)
Gain (dBi)

0
-5
0.0 -10
12GHz
-15
15GHz
-20
18GHz
-25
-2.5
-30
-35
-40
-5.0 -45
-90 -80 -70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80
Theta (deg) Theta (degree)

(b) (d)

Fig. 3. Far-field radiation patterns of the parasitic structure. (a) azimuth Fig. 4. Far-field radiation patterns of 32×32 dipole array antenna at
plane. (b) elevation plane. various scanning angle. (a) scanning angles of 0°. (b) scanning
angles of 15°. (c) scanning angles of 30°. (d) scanning angles of 45
40 °.
35
30
25
20
B. 32×32 dipole array antenna
15 In order to demonstrate the great advantages that are
10
5 provided by the parasitic elements arrangement, a
Gain (dBi)

0
-5
microstripbalun-fed 32×32 dipole array antenna is also
-10 considered. Fig. 4 shows the simulated far-field radiation
-15
-20 patterns of the array antenna at center frequency of 12 GHz
-25
-30
at various scanning angle in azimuth plane. It is can been that
-35 the dipole with the director and parasitic stub is capable of
-40
-45 wide scanning angle in azimuth plane with small deviation in
-80 -60 -40 -20 0
Theta (degree)
20 40 60 80
antenna gain. In TABLEI, the gains and sidelobe level are
listed.
(a)
40
35
TABLE I GAIN AND SIDELOBE OF THE ARRAY
30
25 Scanning angle (°) Array Gain (dBi) Sidelobe (dB)
20
15
0 35.25 21.93
10 15 34.92 21.89
5 30 33.96 20.90
Gain (dBi)

0
-5 45 32.48 20.04
-10
-15
-20
III. CONCLUSION
-25
-30 Microstripbalun-fed dipole antennas using parasitic
-35
-40
geometry are studied in this paper. Theproposed structure
-45 provides small deviation in antenna gain at wide scanning
-80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80
Theta (degree) angle in azimuth plane. The designed dipole antenna and
array using the parasitic configuration will be potentially
(b) very useful in modern phased array systems.
40
35
30 REFERENCE
25
20 [1] E. G. Magil and H. A. Wheeler, “Wide-angle impedance matching of
15
10
a planar array antenna by a dielectric sheet,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
5 Propag., vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 49-53, Jan. 1966.
Gain (dBi)

0
-5
[2] W. Tan, Z. Shen, and Z. Shao. “Radiation of high-gain cavity-backed
-10 slot antennas through a two-layer superstrate,” IEEE Antennas and
-15 Propagation Magazine., vol.50, no.3, pp. 78-87, 2008.
-20
-25 [3] R.L. Xia, S.W. Qu, X. Bai, Q. Jiang, S. Yang, and Z.P. Nie,
-30 “Experimental investigation of wide-angle impedance matching of
-35 phased array using overlapped feeding network,” IEEE Antennas
-40
-45
Wireless Propag., vol. 13, pp. 1284-1287, Jul. 2014.
-80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80
Theta (degree)
[4] P. Hannan, D. Lerner, and G. Knittel, “Impedance matching a
phased array antenna over wide scan angles by connecting circuits,”
(c) IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 28-34, Jan. 1965.

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