Design of Wideband Wide-Scanning Dual-Polarized Phased Array Covering Simultaneously Both the Ku- and the Ka-Satcom Bands

We present the unit cell design of a wideband wide-scanning phased array operating in both Ku- and Ka-bands, for satellite communication applications. The radiating elements are dual-polarized connected slots loaded with an artificial dielectric superstrate, acting as a wide angle impedance matching (WAIM) structure. The design of the multi-layer artificial dielectric is based on analytical formulas describing the equivalent reactance of each layer, valid for geometries that are not periodic in the vertical direction. This allows to minimize the total number of metal layers composing the artificial dielectric. The predicted matching performance is investigated by means of simulations based on infinite array approximation.