Planar High-efficiency Antenna Array Using New Printed Ridge Gap Waveguide Technology

High-efficiency millimeter wave antenna array is proposed. A cooperate feeding network is designed using the new printed ridge gap waveguide technology, which is self-packaged with low loss. The feeding network is designed to couple to narrow slots arranged in a planar array that is coupled to printed broadband magnetoelectric (ME) dipoles. An array of 4 × 4 ME dipoles is designed. The simulated results are verified with measurements. The measured reflection coefficient is less than -10 dB over 16.5% bandwidth (28.8-34 GHz). The measured antenna gain is higher than 19 dBi, and the cross polarization measured gain is around -35 dB within the main beam. Furthermore, the measured total radiation efficiency is 70%, and the measured aperture efficiency corresponds to 90% at 30.2 GHz.