Dual use of slotted waveguide array antennas

Abstract

Slot antennas have been widely used for military and defense applications for decades. This antenna type offers a compact and attractive solution in many cases. The use of the waveguide technique gives a low loss design and will often result in a well defined performance. Slot models and design tools are mature and present an opportunity to do most of the design work theoretically without tedious measurements and experimental efforts. The development and refinement of models for all kinds of slots has been going on since the 1940s and the literature still contains many examples of applications for slotted waveguide arrays. The slotted waveguide antenna is therefore an attractive alternative also for commercial applications. This is especially true for high frequency applications such as radio links where several frequency bands are allocated. Radar antennas and point-point antennas are mentioned in particular and radiation patterns discussed.