Three-Dimensionally Printed, Shaped, Engineered Material Inhomogeneous Lens Antennas for Next-Generation Spaceborne Weather Radar Systems

In this letter, three-dimensionally (3-D) printed shaped inhomogeneous dielectric lens antennas are synthesized using a novel approach based on geometrical optics (GO) and the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method. The GO method is used to trace rays to the aperture following the amplitude, phase, and polarization along curved space trajectories through inhomogeneous media to evaluate potential designs. These designs are specified by power series polynomials describing the surface topology and permittivity functions filling the volume of the shaped lens. The optimum design is obtained by integrating the GO analysis engine with the PSO into an optimization loop. The complex designed materials that result can be printed using new 3-D printers. New techniques are developed to print structures using fused deposition modeling (FDM), which contain complex overhanging features. Measured and simulated results are provided for all 3-D printed synthesized inhomogeneous lenses.