Design and validation of a D-band high gain antenna in MLW technology

Important results from the project

The aim was set to manufacture and validate a D-band high-gain antenna; unfortunately, a number of resonance issues were found after assembling the necessary components together. Although each component on its own did not show these issues in the design stage, the rise of this issue prevented us from finalizing the design. One important result, coming from this realization, is a new development in the bandgap unit cell, which has shown promising results in reducing the resonance issue.

Expected long term effects

The lessons learned from this work has provided us better insight on the needed characteristics of the EBG structure to be able to realizably create an antenna at higher frequencies, like the D-band for this project. Over the longer term, this results in more robust antenna design, which is needed to be able to make the technology viable as a product at higher frequencies.

Approach and implementation

To design was split into design elements: the feeding transition, tee-junctions, and radiating unit cells. These were designed using full-wave simulation in CST Microwave Studio. During the design, weekly meetings were planned for general supervision with daily supervision on a need basis. After successfully finalizing the components, the resonance issue was found in the full structure. A root-cause analysis was done to help the student find the issue, identifying the needed future work.