3D-Printed Double-Ridged Waveguide Array Antenna targeting High-Efficiency Ku-band SatCom on The Move Applications

Abstract

On-going research about Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mobile satellite communications (Sat-Com-on-The-Move) push towards the designs of low-cost and low-profile user terminals. This paper proposes initial results about a wideband double-ridged waveguide antenna to be further integrated in a mobile-user terminal array-antenna, operating in Ku-Band (10.75 – 14.5 GHz). The design of a 2×2 sub-array covering the Ku-band with an efficiency above 70% is proposed to be later used as a unit cell in a larger array. Fabrication with 3D-printing technology is envisaged in order to assess the performance of this design.