Millimetre antennas
Dr Graham Smith & Dr Duncan Robertson | Millimeter Wave & EPR Group, School of Physics & Astronomy
Horn antennas at microwave, mm-wave and terahertz frequencies are commonly used in high performance radars, radiometers and in advanced instrumentation and communication systems. Increasingly, these applications require highly directional, strongly polarised beams to be produced by very compact, low weight antennas, especially for spaceborne use.
In this project, we are developing a generic design tool which provides a simple and flexible methodology to design compact horns with very high levels of performance (e.g. low sidelobe level, low cross-polar level over wide bandwidths) at low cost. We have developed and tested a number of high performance designs, we are exploring novel low cost manufacturing methods, and we are working with manufacturers and microwave component suppliers targeting a number of application areas, including upcoming space missions.
Measured near field scans of the beam from the submillimeter wave split block feedhorns, co-polarised (left).
