K-Band Waveguide Terminator Suitable for Additive Manufacturing Technology and its Applications

Satellite manufacturers have been actively trying to mount an antenna and its feed circuit on satellites manufactured by additive manufacturing technology (AMT). In this paper, we propose a novel waveguide terminator suitable for AMT. The proposed terminator is composed of a rectangular waveguide having a shorted plane with some narrow slits, and absorbers. These absorbers are inserted into the slits after additive manufacturing and have a tapered shape for easy insertion. The proposed terminator design allows many waveguide components, to be integrally manufactured by AMT. We demonstrate the simulation and measurement results for the terminator. In addition, we describe a power divider with the proposed terminator.