A 45∘ Linearly Polarized Hollow-Waveguide 16\,×16-Slot Array Antenna Covering 71–86 GHz Band

A 45° linearly polarized hollow-waveguide 16 × 16- slot array antenna is proposed for point-to-point wireless communication in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz bands. The antenna is composed of an equally-split corporate-feed circuit and 2 × 2-element sub-arrays which radiate the 45°linear polarization. Low sidelobe characteristics are obtained in the E-plane by diagonal placement of the square antenna rotating by 45 degrees. To suppress cross polarization, a radiating narrow-slot pair is adopted. The sub-array is designed by a genetic algorithm and 25.7% reflection bandwidth for is obtained by decreasing the Q of two eigenmodes of the radiating element. A 16 × 16-element array is fabricated by diffusion bonding of thin copper plates. The total thickness is 3.2 mm which is less than 1 free space wavelength. A high gain of 32.9 dBi, high antenna efficiency of 86.6% and low sidelobe characteristics of -27.1-dB first sidelobe levels are measured at the center frequency of 78.5 GHz. Further, the broadband characteristics of reflection , show a gain of more than 31.4 dBi, and low cross polarization of less than -30 dB are achieved over the 71-86 GHz band.