Analysis and Design of Wideband Dielectric Resonator Antenna Arrays for Waveguide-Based Spatial Power Combining

Analysis and design of a probe-fed embedded dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) array in an oversized dielectric loaded waveguide with hard horn excitation are presented for its use in a waveguide-based spatial power combining system. Matching bandwidth as much as 15% (based on -10dB return loss level) is achieved in the proposed design. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) approach with region-by-region discretization and subgridding schemes is applied for the analysis of the entire spatial power combining system. Numerical results of the scattering parameters for the example of a 3 times 3 embedded DRA array excited by a hard horn are compared with those obtained using the commercial software HFSS and exhibit very good agreement. A parametric analysis is performed in order to optimize the system for scattering and coupling characteristics