Comparison of additively manufactured and machined antenna array performance at Ka band
2022 (English)In: IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, ISSN 1536-1225, E-ISSN 1548-5757, Vol. 21, no 1, p. 9-13Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly developing field which potentially decreases the manufacturing costs and enables increasingly complex antenna shapes. Metal-based AM might be particularly useful to manufacture antennas at mm-wave range, because there antennas are physically small enough making additive manufacturing cost efficient, and manufacturing accuracy could still suffice for good electrical performance. In this paper, two additively manufactured and an identical machined fully metallic Ka-band Vivaldi antenna arrays are compared. The manufactured antenna arrays are compared using RF-measurements to conclude the feasibility of AM for manufacturing antenna arrays at mm-wave frequencies. Comparison of the measured radiation patterns and realized gains of each of the antenna arrays between 26 and 40 GHz shows close to identical radiation patterns for all the arrays. A loss in efficiency of 0.51.5 dB is observed in the AM arrays when compared to the machined array due to the used materials and the surface roughness.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. , 2022. Vol. 21, no 1, p. 9-13
Keywords [en]
5G, additive manufacturing, antenna array, Antenna arrays, Antenna feeds, Antenna measurements, Antenna radiation patterns, Antennas, flared-notch antenna, Manufacturing, millimeter wave, phased array, Powders, tapered slot, Vivaldi antenna, 3D printers, 5G mobile communication systems, Antenna phased arrays, Directional patterns (antenna), Microstrip antennas, Microwave antennas, Millimeter waves, Slot antennas, Surface roughness, Antennas measurement, Antennas radiation patterns, Ka band, Manufacturing cost, Notch antennas, Phased-arrays, Tapered slots, Vivaldi antennas, Antenna feeders
National Category
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-57090DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2021.3113372Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85115692585OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-57090DiVA, id: diva2:1614213
2021-11-242021-11-242023-06-07Bibliographically approved