Radial line planar monopulse antenna

Abstract

In recent years, mobile satellite communications have been growing rapidly. Monopulse tracking operations for beam pointing to the satellite are often employed for those systems which, in general, require rather severe EIRP and G/T specifications. Thus, the development of a monopulse antenna with a good antenna efficiency is of great interest. A radial line planar monopulse antenna is proposed. An analysis of the probes in a radial line has been carried out which gives an understanding of why the monopulse patterns can be synthesized, and a simple and effective theory is presented about a realization of uniform-aperture field distribution. The antenna has been fabricated and the radiation characteristics have been measured which supports the theory as well as verifies the capability of the antenna for the monopulse tracking operation.