3-D printed high-gain elliptic flat Luneburg lens

The antennas on remote sensing satellites play a crucial role in receiving and transmitting wireless signals, affecting data acquisition quality. Among them, Luneburg lens antennas have been successfully applied in satellite tracking due to their high-gain property. However, reducing the flat Luneburg lens(FLL) profile while maintaining performance and addressing manufacturing challenges remains a limitation. This paper first utilizes transformation optics theory to derive the permittivity distribution of the FLL. Moreover, an innovative approach is introduced by multiplying the distribution with a coefficient “g” to achieve the desired lower permittivity required for fabrication. Then, a layered implementation is used to design a circular FLL and improve its performance by compressing its horizontal profile. Therefore, a unique elliptic FLL is proposed by making a trade-off between the gain, beamwidth, and focal length of the lens antenna. The antenna achieves a 22.9 dB maximum gain with beamwidths of 9.5°(E-plane) and 7.4°(H-plane). The elliptic FLL was fabricated using 3D printing technology, and the measured results showed a small deviation from the simulated results within an acceptable range of error. The elliptic FLL possesses design flexibility and holds immense potential in applications such as remote sensing satellite communication. •Proposed elliptic FLL: Impressive ±30°beam scanning, 33.7% aperture efficiency, and high gain (22.2dB(E)/22.1dB(H)).•Novel approach: Coefficient ”g” multiplies permittivity distribution for low-profile design and desired manufacturing requirements.•Circular FLL vs. elliptic FLL: Higher gain and wider beamwidth achieved in elliptic FLL for same focal length.