GUI-based Rotman Lens Designer

The Rotman lens is a beamforming network used in electromagnetic-wave wide beam-scanning antenna systems to feed an antenna array. Remote piloted vehicles, satellites, collision-avoidance radars, and ultra-wideband communications systems benefit from the performance of such lenses. In recent years, the use of printed circuit technology in Rotman Lenses has made it easier to create high-performance, low-profile, and lightweight beamforming networks (BFNs). However, it is not easy to design a Rotman lens due to complex equations. The work presented in this paper circumvents the complex design methodology by providing the Rotman lens designing software with Graphical User Interface. This type of GUI software will facilitate the quick design of such lenses. The lens generated by the software can be imported into modern commercial simulators and manipulated as needed. To check the efficacy of this software-generated Rotman lens, the exported lens by the software was simulated in Ansys HFSS and was found to have scanning up to ±30°.