Research On Wideband Miniaturized Array Antenna Technology

Ultra-Wideband(UWB),low-profile,easy-conformal phased array antennas are an important part of future multi-functional electronic systems.A phased array antenna with excellent individual performance can replace multiple antennas required for multi-functional electronic systems.Whether the comprehensive integration of military reconnaissance,interference,detection,and communication systems,or civil mobile communication,satellite communication,vehicle-mounted radars,airborne radars,etc.,the demand for ultra-wideband miniaturized array antennas is constantly increasing.Based on the latest tightly coupled antenna array theory and design method,the ultra-wideband miniaturized tightly coupled array antenna that is low profile,easy to conform and modular manufacturing assembly is studied in this paper.The main research contents include the following aspects:1.The technical bottleneck of the traditional broadband phased array antenna design and the technical principles and key technologies of the new ultra-wideband tightly coupled array antenna were discussed in detail.2.The reason of broadband array common mode resonance was analyzed.In order to reduce the UWB array profile and cost,unbalanced feeding method with additional shorting vias was used to suppress the broadband common mode for the balanced radiation unit of the array.Complicated feed hubs or external broadband balun is not required.The implementation of strong capacitive mutual coupling between the units and the effect of the dielectric slab loading on the performance of the tightly coupled array with a backing ground plane were also analyzed to get the appropriate capacitor structure and dielectric parameters.3.The infinitely-periodic array,semi-infinite periodic array and finite array for the wideband miniaturized tightly coupled antenna were modeled and simulated.Moreover,the main electrical performance parameters such as impedance bandwidth,scan characteristics,and radiation performance of these arrays were compared and analyzed.Through the final simulation optimization this paper obtained the finite 4 ?4 ?2 array,which gets working bandwidth for VSWR ?3 up to 3 octaves or more,E-plane and H-plane scan angle range out to ±45?.In addition,the cross polarization gain of this array is lower than the main polarization gain by 25 dB.4.The fully planar finite 4 ?4 ?2 array antenna was modularized and assembled.The measured octave bandwidth for VSWR ?2.5 of this array antenna reaches 3:1 or more,and this array antenna is also provided with good radiation pattern directivity.This paper has designed the dielectric matching layer of the array antenna by using Teflon can reduce the engineering implementation cost while improving the bandwidth and scan angle range.The finite 4 ?4 ?2 array can provide the wide bandwidth,wide scan angle,and good radiation performance after adopting the edge cell loading resistance method to optimize the edge truncation effect.The number of modular array elements of this wideband miniaturized finite array antenna is only 4 ?4,which is not only conducive to engineering assembly and the increase of finished array products yield,but also beneficial to directly conformal with the platform and directly connecting with the chip,so as to improve the system performance and efficiency.