Design of a highly efficient beam scanning asymmetric H-plane horn antenna

Abstract

This paper presents the design and results of a novel asymmetric H-plane horn antenna with an easily scanable, highly efficient asymmetric radiation pattern. This design offers a cost-effective and practical alternative to the current beam scanning horn antennas used in surveillance radars in which bulky and expensive switching and phase shifting circuits and time consuming rotation mechanisms are used for these antennas to feed the parabolic reflectors asymmetrically to improve the air and coastal scanning performance. In order to achieve that, the flares of the proposed asymmetric H-plane horn antenna, which is constructed from aluminum, are adjusted in a different way from the traditional horn antennas so that it is possible to shift the main lobe in a desired direction by setting the flare angle s differently. The near and far-field measurement results, which are in a good agreement with the simulation results, demonstrate the beam scanning performance of the proposed antenna through the use of adjustable asymmetric flares throughout the paper.