Waveguide manufacturing technologies for next-generation millimeter-wave antennas

Some recent waveguide-based antennas are presented in this paper, designed for the next generation of communication systems operating at the millimeter-wave band. The presented prototypes have been conceived to be manufactured using different state-of-the-art techniques, involving subtractive and ad...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Polo-López, Lucas, Sanchez-Olivares, Pablo, García-Marín, Eduardo, Ruiz Cruz, Jorge Alfonso, Córcoles Ortega, Juan, Masa Campos, José Luis, Montejo-Garai, José R., Rebollar, Jesús M.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/701180
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/701180
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi12121565
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Millimeter-wave devices
Waveguide manufacturing by direct metal laser sintering
Waveguide manufacturing by stereolithography
Waveguide manufacturing by subtractive machining
Telecomunicaciones
Descripción
Sumario:Some recent waveguide-based antennas are presented in this paper, designed for the next generation of communication systems operating at the millimeter-wave band. The presented prototypes have been conceived to be manufactured using different state-of-the-art techniques, involving subtractive and additive approaches. All the designs have used the latest developments in the field of manufacturing to guarantee the required accuracy for operation at millimeter-wave frequencies, where tolerances are extremely tight. Different designs will be presented, including a monopulse antenna combining a comparator network, a mode converter, and a spline profile horn; a tunable phase shifter that is integrated into an array to implement reconfigurability of the main lobe direction; and a conformal array antenna. These prototypes were manufactured by diverse approaches taking into account the waveguide configuration, combining parts with high-precision milling, electrical discharge machining, direct metal laser sintering, or stereolithography with spray metallization, showing very competitive performances at the millimeter-wave band till 40 GHz