3D Printed Metallized Polymer Slotted Waveguide Antenna Array for Automotive Radar Applications at 140 GHz

A 3D printed metallized polymer slotted wavguide antenna array for 135−145GHz Multiple Input - Multiple Output (MIMO) automotive radar applications is designed, manufactured, and measured. Two different designs of a slotted waveguide array - standard and inline - are considered and compared. The inline radiator is fabricated in two polymer layers using stereolithography (SLA) printing. The two polymer pieces are metallized with physical vapor deposition (PVD) followed by galvanization process. A prominent performance of the antenna is achieved, with a realized gain of 10.9dBi, a total efficiency of 79% and a bandwidth of 12GHz.