Planar Slotted Waveguide Array Design Using the Multiport Technique
Title:
Planar Slotted Waveguide Array Design Using the Multiport Technique
Author:
Wood, Peter J.
Appeared in:
Electromagnetics
Paging:
Volume 19 (1999) nr. 1 pages 49-76
Year:
1999-01-01
Contents:
One of the most important features of the Canadian Radarsat synthetic aperture radar satellite is the 15m.*1.5m. deployable, phase-scanned antenna. This paper will describe the design features of that antenna, with particular emphasis on the special techniques that have been developed to analyze and synthesize large slotted waveguide planar arrays. First, the multiport approach to slotted waveguide array design will be introduced. Both the hardware implementation, with its special test fixture, and the underlying analytical algorithms will be described. The latter algorithms make it possible to analyze the slotted structure taking into account all important mutual coupling effects, and to compute the optimal slot geometries. The new approach highlights features of the planar array design problem that have not been evidenced with earlier treatments. Moreover, in the case of a satellite antenna, the method lends itself to rigorous predictions of the r.f. performance in the space environment. The performance of the Radarsat EBB (Engineering Bread-Board) and Flight models has been verified by an intensive series of radiation pattern measurements, using the spherical and planar near-field techniques. This work has served to validate the multiport algorithms. The Radarsat approach to SAR antenna design is based around thin-wall flangeless aluminum waveguide technology. Extensions of the concept provide for dual polarization and dual frequency bands.
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