Single-Ridged Waveguide Antenna for X-Band Applications

A slotted waveguide antenna array based on a single-ridged waveguide (SRWG) with high gain and low side-lobe is designed. Longitudinal slot etched on the broad sidewall of the SRWG is employed for vertical polarization (VP) radiation. An 6 ×56 array at X-band is designed and simulated to validate the slot antenna design, which occupies a total volume of 1420mm× 76mm×10mm. The bandwidth for VSWR<1.2 is 0.7GHz at the center frequency of 9.4 GHz. The realized gain at the center frequency of 9.4 GHz is 31dBi with antenna efficiencies better than 83%. The side-lobe is controlled lower than −33dB over the entire bandwidth. Due to its high gain, compact size, low side-lobe level and ease manufacturing, this array can be combined with the edge-slotted waveguide array to build a two-dimensional dual-polarization antenna array for the applications of sea based X-band radar, satellite communication station, etc.