Harmonic Tuning for Ku-Band Dielectric Resonator Antennas

The design of a rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) operating in the Ku frequency band is addressed in this letter. Since the DRA has to be used as the radiating element of a transmitting array of active integrated antennas, its input impedance must exhibit a proper resistive load at the fundamental resonance frequency, as well as a dominant reactive behavior, either inductive or capacitive, at higher harmonics. Then, the configuration here proposed is a slot-coupled DRA where harmonic tuning is performed by resorting to the introduction of a couple of additional slots parallel to the conventional main coupling slot. The modified DRA is characterized by the same complexity level as the nontunable counterpart. Samples of simulation results are shown to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed slot-based harmonic tuning technique for rectangular DRAs.