Investigations on metallic sphere-inserted conical horn

Much research is recently being made in improving the performance of smooth wall conical horns as an alternative to the corrugated horns. This study investigates the performance of a metallic sphere-inserted conical horn in the Ku-band by using simulations and experiments. While the proposed horn displays improved performance in respect of gain, aperture efficiency and return loss, it is also more compact in comparison with the recently proposed disc(s)-inserted conical horn.