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Antennas for radar applications

Figure 1: Architecture of a single element in multilayer technology     Figure 2: CAD-Model of the antenna for SAR-applications   Figure 3: Printed boards of the different layers

For an experimental airborne radar utilizing the principle of the synthetic aperture (E-SAR) dual polarized transmission and receiving antennas with special beamforming are required operating in P-, L-, S-, C-, and X-Band. High demands are made upon bandwidth and cross-polarization suppression.

In the antenna research group planar multilayer antennas have been developed for this application. Figure 1 shows the architecture of a C-band element in multilayer technology. The coupled radiators with different size (stacked patches) yield a bandwidth of about 10%. The feed for both polarizations is made by a cross slot aperture. A metallic groundplane shields the antenna to the backside. Figure 2 depicts a CAD model of the whole array and Figure 3 the printed boards of the different layers.