Wideband tightly‐coupled dual‐line polarized P‐band antenna array with low‐profile lightweight metal structure.

In this article, an all‐metal structure antenna array is proposed. The novel hollow‐out structures are designed to achieve low profile and lightweight. The top structure of the element is also tightly coupled, once again lowering the antenna array profile. The overall size of the array is 1354.0 × 1354.0 mm2, the spacing between elements is 323.0 mm. The optimized array‐structure profile is only 0.12 λ0 (λ0 corresponds to the wavelength of 0.4 GHz). In addition, an excellent dual‐line polarization radiation is achieved by using a cross‐staggered arrangement. Both polarizations of the array have a cross‐polarization‐level of smaller than −30 dB. In order to verify the feasibility of the scheme, prototype processing and testing are carried out, and the test results are consistent with the simulation results. The frequency band covers the P‐band (0.4‐0.7 GHz). The active voltage standing wave ratios (VSWRs) are less than 2.0. In addition, the antenna array has favorable radiation characteristics. The measured realized gain varies from 14.7 to 19.6 dBi over the work band. The total antenna efficiency is higher than 83%. It can be applied to phased arrays for the satellite system and other broadband lightweight metal antennas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]