Advances in Waveguide-Fed Slot Arrays

Sembiam R. Rengarajan
California State University, Northridge, CA 91330-8346, USA
E-mail: srengarajan@csun.edu
Introduction
Waveguide-fed slot arrays are employed in numerous radar, remote sensing, and
communication applications in ground and space systems. Professor Elliotts
significant contributions paved the way for the eventual maturity of the slot array
antenna technology to the point that it is possible to design such systems in one
pass without the need for any experimental data. The author worked in a research
group headed by Prof. Elliott and centered at Hughes Aircraft Company, Canoga
Park, CA in the early eighties. Later the author collaborated with Elliott in the
study of slot arrays for a decade with funding from the University of California
and the Hughes Corporate office. Subsequent work was funded by many
sponsors. This paper reviews the advances made in the field of slot arrays by the
author in collaboration with colleagues and students.
Radiating and Coupling Elements
Elliott developed a theory for designing waveguide-fed slot arrays [1]. It was
improved [2], enhanced to include the TE20 mode coupling between adjacent
radiating slots in a waveguide [3] and extended for planar resonant arrays [4] and
traveling wave arrays [5, 6]. This design procedure became popular and is widely
used because it provides a general frame work for designing array antennas, e.g.,
slot arrays fed by strip lines, slots in a ridge waveguide, and printed dipole arrays
[7-9]. The need to characterize the resonant length of radiating and coupling slots
precisely was noted by Elliott and Stern [10]. Subsequently based on accurate
method of moments (MoM) solutions of pertinent integral equations for the slot
aperture electric field, isolated radiating and coupling slots cut in rectangular
waveguides were characterized [11-14]. For weakly excited slots there is a need
to include the longitudinal component of the aperture electric field and a rigorous
analysis was needed [15]. An improved scattering model based on the
conventional MoM solution in combination with the data measured for a centered
longitudinal slot was found to be very accurate [16]. Slots radiating between
baffles were analyzed for special applications [17, 18].
Mutual Coupling Effects
The effect of internal higher order mode coupling between adjacent radiating slots
in a waveguide was reported in [19] while a similar effect for the coupling slots
was investigated in [20]. External coupling between radiating slots was also

978-1-4244-4968-2/10/$25.00 2010 IEEE

analyzed [21-24]. The internal higher order mode coupling between a coupling
slot and a pair of straddling radiating slots was found to be significant and needs
to be accounted for in the design of slot arrays [25].
Enhancements to the Array Design and Analysis
An optimization procedure to include higher order mode coupling between
adjacent coupling slots of a planar slot array was developed in a manner similar to
what Elliott and OLoughlin did for radiating slots [26, 3]. A shaped beam
antenna pattern was produced by a planar array employing compound coupling
slots in an end-fed configuration [27]. Elliotts procedure was extended to design
planar slot arrays consisting of sub-arrays as feeds to excite a dual polarized
microstrip reflectarray [28]. Genetic algorithm optimization was used to
demonstrate possible improvements in the radiation characteristics of a previously
designed traveling wave array [29, 5]. Derneryd and Petersson studied the
bandwidth properties of slot arrays in terms of total admittance of radiating slots
and the resistance of coupling slots [30]. A recent investigation based on moment
method analysis of slot arrays showed that it is possible to design arrays for
increased bandwidth for return loss or pattern characteristics or make a
compromise [31]. A large Ka band slot array was designed using an infinite array
model to account for mutual coupling [32]. Poisson sum formula was used to
derive the expressions for the mutual coupling in terms of Floquet modes and the
design process was found to be substantially simpler. In the design of radiometer
antennas requiring low average sidelobes over different angular regions and over
a 4% frequency band, Monte Carlo technique was used to study the effects of
tolerances and modeling errors. Three antennas were designed and built in one
pass without any hardware iteration [33]. In a recent paper, coupling between
two slot arrays was investigated using the moment method analysis program [34].
Scattering and receiving characteristics of a slot array were studied for the case of
plane wave excitation. It is found that for oblique incidence, in addition to a
scattered pattern in the specular direction, a grating lobe is also present [35]. We
have used MoM solution of the pertinent integral equations to characterize
radiating and coupling slots. It is possible to use other computational
electromagnetics techniques such as finite elements method. Commercial codes
such as Ansoft HFSS provide accurate analyses of small slot arrays [33]. In the
symposium we will discuss some interesting results from analysis and design.
References
[1] R. Elliott and L. Kurtz, The design of small slot arrays, IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propag., vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 214-219, Mar. 1978.
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IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 48-53, Jan. 1983.
[3] R. Elliott and W. OLoughlin, The design of slot arrays including internal
mutual coupling, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 34, no. 9, pp. 1149-54,
Sep. 1986.

[4] R. S. Elliott, The Design of Waveguide-Fed Slot Arrays, in Y. T. Lo and S.

W. Lee (eds.), Antenna Handbook, New York: Van Nostrand Rheinhold, 1988.
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[12] S. R. Rengarajan, "Analysis of a centered-inclined waveguide slot coupler,"
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in crossed rectangular waveguides," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol.
MTT-37, no. 8, pp. 1171-1177, Aug. 1989.
[14] S. R. Rengarajan, "Compound coupling slots for arbitrary excitation of
waveguide-fed slot arrays," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. AP-38, no. 2, pp.
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[15] C. Peterson, and S. R. Rengarajan, "Rigorous analysis of weakly excited
broadwall slots," Electronics Letters, vol. 30, no. 12, pp. 921-922, June 1994.
[16] S. R. Rengarajan, and A. Derneryd," Improved scattering model for weakly
excited compound slots," Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 6, pp.
504-507, June 20, 1993.
[17] K. Forooraghi, P.-S. Kildal, and S. R. Rengarajan, "Admittance of a
longitudinal slot radiating between baffles using a spectrum of two-dimensional
solutions," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. 41, pp. 422-428, April 1993.
[18] M. Dich, and S. R. Rengarajan, "The self-impedance of a waveguide-fed
transverse broad wall slot radiating between baffles," Electromagnetics, vol. 19,
no. 4, Jul.-Aug. 1999.
[19] S. R. Rengarajan and D. D. Nardi, "On internal higher-order mode coupling
in slot arrays," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 694-698, May
1991.

[20] S. R. Rengarajan, " Higher order mode coupling effects in feeding waveguide
of a planar slot array," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 39, pp. 12191223, July 1991.
[21] S. R. Rengarajan, and E. Gabrelian, "Efficient and accurate evaluation of
external mutual coupling between compound broad wall slots," IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propag., vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 733-737, June 1992 .
[22] S. R. Rengarajan, "Mutual coupling between slots cut in rectangular
cylindrical structures: Spectral domain analysis," Radio Science, vol. 31, pp.
1651-1661, Nov. - Dec., 1996.
[23] S. R. Rengarajan, "Mutual coupling between waveguide-fed longitudinal
broad wall slots radiating between baffles," Electromagnetics, vol. 16, no. 6, pp.
671-683, Nov. - Dec., 1996.
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transverse broad wall slots radiating between baffles," Electromagnetics, vol. 17,
no. 5, pp. 421-435, Sep. - Oct., 1997.
[25] S. R. Rengarajan, and G. M. Shaw, "Accurate characterization of coupling
junctions in waveguide-fed planar slot arrays," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory
Tech. , vol. 42, no. 12, pp. 2239-2248, Dec. 1994.
[26] S. R. Rengarajan, "An optimization procedure for including the higher order
mode coupling between coupling slots in the design of a planar slot array," IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 7, pp. 785-787, 2008.
[27] S. R. Rengarajan, and A. Derneryd, "Application of compound coupling slots
in the design of shaped beam antenna patterns," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
vol. 41, pp. 59-65, Jan. 1993.
[28] M. Zawadzki, S. R. Rengarajan, and R. Hodges "The design of H- and V-pol
slot array feeds for a scanned, offset dual-polarized reflectarray," IEEE
International Symposium on Antennas Propag., Washington, DC, June 2005.
[29] A. Jensen and S. R. Rengarajan, "Genetic algorithm optimization of a
traveling wave array of longitudinal slots in a rectangular waveguide," Applied
Comp. Electromagnetics Society Journal vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 337-341, Nov. 2006.
[30] A. Derneryd and R. Petersson, On bandwidth characteristics of monopulse
slotted waveguide antennas, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference
on Antennas and Propagation, Coventry, England, 1619 April, 1985.
[31] S. R. Rengarajan, and S. Chatterjee, "An investigation of bandwidth
characteristics of waveguide-fed planar slot arrays," Electromagnetics, vol. 29,
no. 7, pp. 515-521, 2009.
[32] S. R. Rengarajan, M. S. Zawadzki and R. E. Hodges, "Design, analysis and
development of a large Ka band slot array for digital beamforming application,"
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 57, no. 10, pp. 3103-3109, Oct. 2009.
[33] S. R. Rengarajan, M. S. Zawadzki and R. E. Hodges, "Waveguide array
antenna for radiometer applications," IEEE Antennas Propag. Magazine, (in
review cycle).
[34] S. R. Rengarajan, "Coupling between waveguide-fed slot arrays," IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 8, pp. 428-431, 2009.
[35] S. R. Rengarajan, "Scattering and receiving characteristics of waveguide-fed
planar slot arrays," IEEE Radar Conference, Boston, MA, April 2007.