A wideband faceted multibeam antenna

This paper presents the general system architecture as well as simulation results for a wideband faceted multibeam antenna capable of performing both receiving (Rx) and transmitting (Tx) functions. Each facet in the antenna consists of a planar, wideband, microstrip antenna array and a Rotman lens for 1D beam steering in azimuth. The facet can be separately reconfigured for either Tx or Rx functions by controlling switches connected to T/R modules. Simulation results are presented for planar and conformal antenna arrays consisting of bow-tie elements as well as for an infinite planar array consisting of stacked, aperture-coupled, microstrip antenna elements. For the latter, presented simulation results show that the infinite array has an active reflection coefficient approximately lower than -10 dB for scanning angles up to ±30° in the frequency band 5.3-12 GHz.