X-BAND APERTURE ANTENNA WITH HYBRID DIELECTRIC INSERTS

An X-band radiator as an open-ended waveguide with a hybrid dielectric insert is proposed. The insert is in the form of a parallelepiped, which fills the entire cross section of the waveguide and constitutes a Teflon matrix with local inhomogeneities in the form of dielectric cylinders with a different permittivity. The design allows for forming various near-field distributions and, hence, the radiator performance by means of definite combinations of the local inhomogeneities can be modified. A number of configurations in the location of air and quartz cylinders are investigated. The calculated and experimental results are in good agreement. The proposed approach to the near-field formation of the aperture antenna is promising, because the variety of possible configurations in the location of local inhomogeneities with different permittivity provides new opportunities in terms of designing both single radiators and antenna arrays.