Technology concepts for sector antennas used in point-to-multipoint access systems

Sector antennas in modern radio transmission systems have to meet stringent requirements on the one hand, but the manufacturing process should be cost-effective on the other hand. In the horizontal plane a constant illumination in the given sector with strong sidelobe level attenuation has to be realized. In the vertical plane, a highly directive radiation pattern, avoiding deep nulls is required. For lower frequencies, microstrip technology is state-of-the- art to realize such kind of sector antennas [2], whereas for higher frequencies, waveguide feeding concepts, exhibiting very low losses, are preferred [1]. In the following, concepts for a 90deg sectorizing base station antenna in the 10 GHz frequency range will be presented, comparing the electrical performance, the complexity of manufacturing as well as cost.