Measurements and Simulations of a 2.4 GHz Circular Waveguide Antenna for a Portable Radar Kit

A custom radar kit that integrates with a portable computer (laptop) for assembly and operation by students and researchers has been developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The assembled radar kit uses two low-cost cylindrical metal cans that serve as the antennas, one for transmitting and one for receiving radar signals. The antennas operate as linearly polarized open-ended circular waveguides (10.5 cm diameter) fed with a thin-wire monopole probe. Over the 2.4 to 2.5 GHz band, the measured reflection coefficient is less than -10 dB, the peak realized gain is greater than 7 dBi, and the half-power beamwidth is approximately 70 degrees in both the E- and H-planes. FEKO method of moments simulations of the antenna are compared with the measured data and good agreement is demonstrated.