Dual-Band Wide-Angle Scanning Planar Phased Array in X/Ku-Bands

Abstract

A novel planar dual-band phased array, operational in the X/Ku-bands and with wide-angle scanning capability is presented. The design, development and experimental demonstration are described. A new single-layer crossed L-bar microstrip antenna is used for the array design. The antenna has low-profile architecture, measuring only 0.33λ×0.33λ, at the low frequency band of operation, with flexible resonance tuning capability offered by the use of a plate-through-hole and field-matching ring arrangement. A 49-element planar (7 × 7) array demonstrator has been built and its performance validated, exhibiting good agreement with full-wave simulations. The dual-band array supports a large frequency ratio of nearly 1.8:1, and also maintains good sub-band bandwidths. Wide-angle scanning up to a maximum of 60 ° and 50 ° are achieved at the low and high frequency bands of operation, respectively.