Abstract
This chapter describes the design and modeling of horn-based phased-array antennas using analytical approaches. Phased-array antennas are important devices for 5G wireless technologies since their radiation patterns can be reinforced in the desired direction and provide high directivity, which can be suppressed in the undesired direction. In this chapter, analytical analysis has been used for single horn element design. Various analytical formulations proposed by previous researchers were comprehensively reviewed. Once a single horn element has been designed, N number of horn elements were arranged in a 2D array to become a horn-based phased-array antenna. The universal antenna factor formula was used to model the phased-array antenna. The uncertainty of the antenna factor formula was studied since the formula has not mentioned which type of antenna element is suitable to be implemented. The calculated and simulated gain and radiation patterns for the horn-based phased-array antenna obtained from the analytical formula and commercial EM simulator were compared and analyzed.
TopPyramidal Horn Antennas
There are several types of horn antennas including pyramidal horn, sectoral horn, circular or conical horn, scalar/exponential horn, corrugated horn, double-ridged horn, and feed horn. However, this chapter focuses more on the pyramidal horn as shown in Figure 1. The simple pyramidal horn antenna is capable of providing wide bandwidth, high directivity, and high gain, G (10 dBi ≤ G ≤ 25 dBi).
Over the past 60 years, pyramidal horns have been studied due to their simple structure, and many analytical formulations have been proposed to analyze and improve the accuracy of antenna designs (Kritikos and Lang, 1965). Simple and accurate analytical formulas will save the cost and time of designing pyramidal horns. Normally, the proposed analytical formulations are explicit, and some require solving using iterative techniques. Nonetheless, analytical analysis usually focuses on horn dimension determination and horn performance evaluation, such as gain, return loss, and radiation pattern of the horn.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Graphical User Interface (GUI): A form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation, instead of text-based user interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation.
Fifth Generation Wireless Technology (5G): Digital cellular mobile communication networks that began wide deployment in 2019.
Antenna Gain: A parameter that measures the maximum power which an antenna can transmit or receive in a given direction compared to an ideal antenna.
Antenna: A transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic waves.
Electronic Design Automation (EDA): A computer-aided design tools particular for designing electronic systems.
Array Factor: A far-field radiation pattern of an array antenna which pattern is contributed by each isotropic array element.
Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO): An antenna technology for wireless communications in which multiple antennas are used at the transmitter and receiver.
Numerical Method: A matrix or iterative technique for solving mathematical problems.
Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB): A proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numerical computing environment developed by MathWorks.
Horn Antenna: A directional antenna consisting of a horn-shaped metal waveguide that guides radio waves in a beam.
Radiation Pattern: A polar plot representation of the antenna radiation intensity or strength pattern.
Antenna Array: A set of N connected antennas that work together as a single antenna to transmit or receive radio waves.
Analytical Solution: A closed-form mathematical solution in the form of mathematical expression can be solved analytically.
Internet of Things (IoT): A system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical, and digital machines provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
Phased-Array Antenna: An array antenna in which each antenna is fed with a different phase shift to change the beamforming and direction of the radiation pattern without physically moving the antenna.
Microwave (MW): A form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from 1 m to 1 mm, which is corresponding to operating frequencies ranging from 300 MHz to 300 GHz.