A Low-Profile Millimeter-Wave Circularly-Polarized Multilayer Waveguide Antenna Array for Satellite Communication Application

A low-profile circularly-polarized multilayer waveguide antenna array operating in Ka-band is proposed. The antenna array is also characterized for low axial ratio (AR), high-efficiency and wide operating bandwidth. To achieve a wide operating bandwidth from 29.4 GHz to 31.0 GHz and improve the AR, sequential rotation technique is utilized. The complete array is composed of five aluminum layers firmly brazed with each other. Each layer is manufactured by using the computer numerical control (CNC) milling machine. Experimental results demonstrate that a desired bandwidth with VSWR and AR less than 1.6 and 2 dB respectively have been realized with high radiation gain. The proposed antenna array is an excellent candidate for advanced satellite communication (Satcom).