High-Gain Hybrid Microstrip/Conical Horn Antenna for MMW Applications

A high-gain slot-coupled circular patch antenna with a surface-mounted conical horn for millimeter-wave (MMW) applications at 31 GHz is proposed. The design adopts microstrip/conical horn hybrid technology for a 6-dB enhancement over the conventional circular patch antenna. The overall antenna gain is about 12 dB, which makes it suitable for MMW imaging applications and short-range communications. A slot feeding mechanism is used for exciting the microstrip patch dominant mode TM
₀₁₀
. The proposed design has been verified by simulations and finally confirmed by measurements.