A Planar Dual-Polarized Wideband Antenna Feed Element Design for Gradient-Index Luneburg Lens Antenna

Abstract

A planar wideband and dual-polarized antenna feed element for gradient-index (GRIN) Luneburg lens antenna is proposed. The designed dual-polarized antenna feed element is a standalone antenna element and has wide impedance bandwidth with high port-to-port isolation and low cross-polarization level. An example antenna feed element was designed and manufactured using standard printed circuit board (PCB) technology to operate at Ku-band (10.5-14.8GHz) and was used as a feed source for a 12-inch diameter Luneburg lens structure. Measured and simulated results show that the proposed dual-polarized antenna feed element has good impedance bandwidth with low cross-polarization level (<16dB) and high port-to-port isolation (>20dB) making it suitable for practical applications such as satellite communications.