An All-Metal High-Gain Radial-Line Slot-Array Antenna for Low-Cost Satellite Communication Systems

This article presents a method to produce a highly directive circularly polarized radiation beam (gain>35 dBi) from an all-metal circularly polarized radial-line slot array (RLSA) antenna. The antenna comprises a single-layer radial TEM waveguide, fully filled with air, formed between a metal ground plate and a parallel metal slotted sheet, leading to simple, low-cost fabrication. A prototype of the new antenna having a diameter of 0.4 m or 27λ
₀
, where λ
₀
is the free-space wavelength at the operating frequency of 20 GHz, was fabricated and tested. Its measured peak broadside directivity and measured peak realized gain are 36.3 dBic and 35.9 dBic, respectively. The total thickness of the antenna is only 6.5 mm or 0.43λ
₀
. The aperture efficiency of the prototype is 56%, total efficiency is 95.4%, and measured 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth is 4.9 GHz (22.9%). The antenna has excellent cross-polar rejection, with a measured cross-polar level of -24.4 dB in the broadside direction. This antenna has been targeted for low-cost SATCOM terminals and wireless backhauls but due to the lack of dielectrics, it may also be useful for space and high-power microwave applications.