Dual-Polarized, Dual-Band, and Aperture-Shared Synthesis Method for Phased Array Applications

A dual-band and dual-polarized shared-aperture synthesis method for phased array applications is proposed. Dual-polarized slot-coupled microstrip patch elements operating in the Ku - band are arranged in a regular array configuration. Two orthogonal probes share a common radiating patch structure and are fed by two $H$ -shaped coupling slots. Sidewall metalized cavity waveguide elements operating in the W-band are fed by a substrate-integrated waveguide and arranged in a sparse array configuration, which is based on an optimization algorithm proposed in this work. Furthermore, the feeding locations are regularly determined, which is beneficial to transceiver/receiver design, thus reducing the cost of a phased array system. By exploiting this compact array topology and optimization algorithm, two-phased arrays with a large frequency ratio employing a shared aperture simultaneously exhibit wide-angle scanning properties. A 64-element array is designed, fabricated, and measured. The measurement results show that the Ku-band dual-polarized antenna exhibits a wide impedance bandwidth of 20% in the 14.3–17.6 GHz frequency range for two orthogonal polarizations and high isolation (>20 dB) between the feeding ports. The W-band antenna exhibits a 5.4% fractional impedance bandwidth covering 90–95 GHz frequency range with a ±45° scanning angle in the E - and H-planes.

I. Introduction

Dual-band dual-polarized antenna (DBDPA) arrays have received extensive research interest in recent years because they offer more target information, exhibit stronger antiinterference properties in radar system applications, and provide larger channel capacity for communication systems compared with traditional single-band single-polarization antenna arrays [1]–[9]. The DBDPA arrays can be generally classified into the following two categories based on their physical configuration: In the first one, two different-band arrays are separated from each other by their physical locations. In the second one, two different-band arrays share a common array aperture. The first case is just a simple assembly of two different-band arrays within an increased physical aperture. As a result, the aperture efficiency is quite low. Therefore, the second case exhibits a significant advantage in terms of aperture reuse, resulting in an increased aperture efficiency.