Experimental validation of a compact 3D-printed subreflector subsystem for Cassegrain antenna in X-band
Subject:
dual-reflector antenna
3D printed Cassegrain
X-band reflectors
Publication date:
Abstract:
In this work, a dual-reflector antenna based on a Cassegrain optics with a compact self-supported subreflector is presented to operate at X-band. The feeding subsystem is composed of a subreflector surface, the primary feed and a supporting structure in a single dielectric piece, providing a smart solution. The antenna is fed by a metallic rectangular waveguide with a H-plane transition to a Dielectric Rectangular Waveguide (DRW) finished on a hyperboloid. The designing process presented is based on optical geometrics and it is validated through the manufacture of the Cassegrain antenna. The prototype is fabricated using a 3-D printed technique and the subreflector and main parabolic reflector are metalized by a coating technique. The antenna is simulated and measured obtaining a high agreement on both. The prototype shows good performances in the whole band, validating both the designing technique and the proposed subreflector.
In this work, a dual-reflector antenna based on a Cassegrain optics with a compact self-supported subreflector is presented to operate at X-band. The feeding subsystem is composed of a subreflector surface, the primary feed and a supporting structure in a single dielectric piece, providing a smart solution. The antenna is fed by a metallic rectangular waveguide with a H-plane transition to a Dielectric Rectangular Waveguide (DRW) finished on a hyperboloid. The designing process presented is based on optical geometrics and it is validated through the manufacture of the Cassegrain antenna. The prototype is fabricated using a 3-D printed technique and the subreflector and main parabolic reflector are metalized by a coating technique. The antenna is simulated and measured obtaining a high agreement on both. The prototype shows good performances in the whole band, validating both the designing technique and the proposed subreflector.
Description:
European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (15th. Online. 2021)
Patrocinado por:
This work was supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades under Project TEC2017-86619-R (ARTEINE), the European Space Agency under Contract ESTEC/AO/1-7064/12/NL/MH, and by Gobierno del Principado de Asturias/FEDER under Project GRUPIN-IDI/2018/0001991.