Development of a Ku-Band Corrugated Conical Horn Using 3-D Print Technology

Author

Chieh, Jia-Chi Samuel ; Dick, Brian ; Loui, Stuart ; Rockway, John D.

Author_Institution

SPAWAR Syst. Center Pacific, San Diego, CA, USA

Volume

13

fYear

2014

fDate

2014

Firstpage

201

Lastpage

204

Abstract

We present the development of a Ku-band (10-16 GHz) corrugated conical horn antenna using 3-D print technology or stereolithography. The antenna is printed using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a thermoplastic, and then coated with conductive aerosol paint. The designed antenna achieves a measured peak gain of 19.6 dBi at 16 GHz with a 1.92:1 VSWR from 11 to 18 GHz. It is shown that 3-D printing is capable of producing sufficient feature sizes that make operation in the microwave/millimeter-wave (MMW) bands possible.

Keywords

aerosols; conical antennas; horn antennas; microwave antennas; paints; stereolithography; 3D print technology; acrylonitrile butadiene styrene; conductive aerosol paint; corrugated conical horn antenna; frequency 11 GHz to 18 GHz; microwave antennas; stereolithography; Antenna measurements; Gain; Horn antennas; Microwave antennas; Microwave theory and techniques; Three-dimensional displays; 3-D printing; cassegrain; corrugated horn antennas; direct-broadcast satellite (DBS); feeds; stereo lithography;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-1225

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LAWP.2014.2301169

Filename

6716006