CAD of Waveguide Butler Matrices Including Mechanical and Thermal Constraints

Modern CAD tools make feasible to perform an integrated design of microwave networks that accounts also for mechanical and thermal constraints. In this contribution we examine the application of such design approach to Butler matrices, frequently employed in advanced satellite antennas. By using the proposed technique it is shown that Butler matrices implemented in nonstandard waveguide and with compensated bends in order to reduce size and weight can successfully rival microstrip implementations at X-band and pave the way to sophisticated antenna designs at Ka-band.