High Gain Bow-Tie Slot Antenna Array Loaded with Grooves Based on Printed Ridge Gap Waveguide Technology

Abstract

The development of wireless and satellite communication has led to a demand for high-performance microwaves and mm-wave components in terms of cost, losses, and fabrication complexity. Gap waveguide is one of the emerging technologies in 5G and mm-wave applications due to their low cost, low losses, and high power handling capability. In this paper, a groove-based wideband bow-tie slot antenna array is designed at 30 GHz based on printed ridge gap waveguide technology (PRGW). A two-section T-shaped ridge is designed to feed a bow tie slot placed on the upper ground of the PRGW. The gain of the proposed slot antenna is enhanced by using a horn-like groove. Then, the proposed high gain element is deployed to build up a 1 bow-tie slot antenna array loaded with three-layer groove antenna. The proposed antenna array is fabricated and measured, where the measured results show a -10-dB impedance bandwidth from 29.5 to 37 GHz (22%). The fabricated prototype achieves a high gain of 15.5 dBi and a radiation efficiency higher than 80% over the operating frequency bandwidth.