RF feed chain components manufactured by additive manufacturing techniques

This article investigates the use of additive manufacturing of RF components for antenna feed chain systems. The pros and cons compared to currently available manufacturing techniques are discussed and based on these investigations, design rules for RF designs using ALM were prepared. Regarding the novel manufacturing technique design rules, feed chain components were identified to transpose common used features with advanced shapes realizable by additive manufacturing techniques. Especially elliptical and circular waveguide structures are combining the advantage of a good RF-performance and also matching well with the new ALM design rules. The article concludes with an outlook using advanced manufacturing techniques for ongoing developments in the sector of RF components for space and ground station applications.