Broadband Phased Array Antenna Miniaturization Technology Research

In order to accommodate the ever-changing modern science and technology, techniques of phased antenna arrays have achieved rapid development with the extension of their widespread applications. Thus, the performance requirements of phased antenna arrays are increasingly demanding, and their operating frequency range are also more and more wide. In some lower frequency band, the physical sizes of the traditional wideband antennas generally used as the broadband array elements are relatively large, which are inconvenient for many practical applications. Consequently, the miniaturization of the broadband antenna arrays has been receiving widespread attentions. Focused on the miniaturization of the broadband antenna arrays, this thesis presents a study on minimizing the broadband antenna arrays at lower frequency band, based on the enhanced mutual coupling effects in the array. The main content of the thesis include the following sections:Firstly, a brief description of the significance and research status for wideband phased array antenna and wideband antenna is presented. And a more detailed explanation and comparison of the basic principles of the traditional broadband arrays and the broadband phased arrays based on enhanced mutual coupling are introduced.Secondly, a finger shaped interdigitatal dipole antenna element which forms the closely spaced arrays, is simulated using the electromagnetic software HFSS, including their unit structure, feed baluns and arrays.Thirdly, for the realization of antenna miniaturization, an EBG structure is proposed and used for the miniaturized phased array antennas with enhanced mutual coupling, in order to further reduce the antenna size. Preliminary simulation results are presented, thus laying a foundation for further research and study.Finally, an L band1x4miniaturized linear phased array was designed and fabricated and measured. Measured results are in reasonable agreement with simulated results, thus verifying the effectiveness of the proposed miniaturized broadband antenna array.