Low-profile CTS Antenna with Circular Polarization for SatCom Applications in PCB Technology

An ultra-low-profile, wide-band, continuous transverse stub (CTS) array targeting the K/Ka band is presented here. A pillbox coupler is used for the illumination of the array and to steer the antenna main beam in elevation by placing multiple horns in the focal plane of the pillbox coupler. The antenna is designed in multi-layer printed circuit board technology. The antenna presents a reflection coefficient better than -10 dB over a 48% relative bandwidth (19-31 GHz). A dualband polarization converter is added above the antenna to provide orthogonal circular polarizations in the down and up links in K/Ka band. Specifically, an axial ratio lower than 3 dB is obtained over 9.47% and 4.42% relative bandwidths in the two bands, respectively.