A low profile dual polarized ultra wide scan printed array element

A dual polarized end-fed dielectric loaded waveguide with an aperture iris and external WAIM sheets is shown to have broadband (18%) and ultra-wide conical scan (±70°) properties. The element has coincident phase centers. At 70° scan, its worst case cross-polar discrimination (XPD) is 14 dB and has a maximum scan loss of 5 dB. Its proposed construction is by printed technique to obtain a very low profile of less than 0.36λ in height. Entire element performance is predicted using the mode matching technique.