Planar H-plane horn antenna with quasi-omnidirectional pattern for 5G applications

Abstract

This article proposes a quasi-omnidirectional planar H-plane horn antenna having triple-band characteristics, operating in the 5G frequency region centered around 28 GHz. This design comprises four identical substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) based planar H-plane horns. Four coplanar H-plane horns are placed orthogonal to each other to cover the entire 360° azimuth plane, thereby realizing quasi-omnidirectional radiation patterns. The waveguide sections of four H-plane horns are joined at the center location, where a single coaxial probe is connected to excite TE₁₀ mode in the waveguide section. The center conductor of this coaxial probe is not touched with the broad wall of the horn to realize a planar horn antenna in a true sense. Via-based corrugation has been conceived at the flaring section of each horn that improves the impedance bandwidth (IBW) response. Gain has been enhanced by incorporating trapezoidal-shaped dielectric loads at the front of all four horn apertures. The proposed structure exhibits triple operating bands ranging from 25.58 − 26.18 GHz, 26.59–29.12 GHz, and 29.98–30.72 GHz with a stable peak gain of 7.10–7.76 dBi across the operating bands. The measured and simulated results are in good agreement.