Radial line slot antenna development for outdoor point to point application at 5.8GHz band

A linearly polarized radial line slot antenna (RLSA) is proposed for outdoor WLAN point to point application. The WLAN is based on the IEEE 802.11a standard and the operating frequency range is the upper UNII band (5.725-5.875) GHz. This research was conducted in order to design and develop an aesthetic, low cost, high performance, durable and flat antenna that could be utilized in point to point microwave links. The development of an RLSA along with its experimental performance is presented. The method is a beam squinted design. The prototype development processes included specification definition, selection of the cavity´s dielectric material and construction of prototypes. The production of prototypes is divided into two stages. The first stage is to simulate the radiation pattern of the slot arrangement at the operating frequency. The second stage is to produce the prototype and to evaluate its performance. The RLSA has been successfully constructed and tested for outdoor WLAN point to point applications.