Ka-Band Single-Layer High-Efficiency Circular Aperture Microstrip Array Antenna

Abstract

Based on microstrip antenna technology, a compact single-layer circular aperture array is proposed in this paper. The proposed method is suitable for designing large-scale and high-efficiency patch array in Ka band. By using the high-impedance characteristic of the coupled microstrip line, a novel multi-stage feeding network that can realize large power division ratio is proposed, and its structure is center-symmetrical and is fed through a coaxial probe at the center. The parallel branch of the multi-stage divider is connected to the row array, and the array elements can obtain uniform excitation through the design of the division ratio of each stage. A 256-element patch array operating at 35 GHz is proposed, the length and width of the antenna unit are 2.74 mm and 3 mm, respectively, the horizontal spacing between the array elements is 0.742λ0, the vertical spacing varies from 0.677λ0 to 0.737λ0, and the radius of the proposed array is 60 mm (7λ0 at 35 GHz). At the end, a prototype is fabricated and measured, the measured results show that the maximum gain is 29.5 dBi at 35 GHz, which correspond to the radiation efficiency and aperture efficiency of 61.66% and 46.07%, respectively, and the results show that the proposed antenna achieves high efficiency in Ka band, which verifies the correctness of the design. The proposed array antenna is compact in structure and only needs single-layer design, which can achieve high efficiency and low in manufacture cost, which is an excellent candidate for millimeter-wave large-scale array application.