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DEGREE PROJECT IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING,

SECOND CYCLE, 30 CREDITS


STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2017

Investigation of Wide Band


mm-Wave Radome
SHREYASI BHOWMIK

KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY


SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Investigation of Wide band mm-Wave Radome
Technology

SHREYASI BHOWMIK

Master’s Thesis at EE
Supervisor: Mahsa E.Hamklar
Examiner: Oscar Q.Teruel

TRITA-EE 2017:008
Abstract
“Radome” is a necessary shield for any type of antenna. Its
shape, thickness, mechanical and electrical properties de-
fine its application. This thesis mainly revolves around the
techniques, used for radome analysis in W-band with the
help of electromagnetic solvers of High Frequency Struc-
ture Simulator (HFSS) and CST Microwave Studio. Mea-
surement of permittivity of many materials is not made at
such high frequencies and hence one is not sure about its
material characteristics. This thesis includes a survey on
materials which are applicable in W-band regime and give
a sturdy performance with single type of material or com-
monly known as ‘Style A’ radomes. The thesis further de-
scribes, the shape and thickness modification of the radome.
It contemplates on the the choice of solver involved and the
different advantages and disadvantages of the electromag-
netic solvers with respect to this particular case. Several
trials have been done on each of these platforms and only
the relevant results have been presented. The antenna stud-
ied is a “Travelling Wave Microstrip Patch Antenna” which
is subjected to different sizes of ground plane in order to
obtain the realistic environment for it to be simulated in.
It was observed that as the thickness of radome increased,
the gain through the radome enclosed antennas decreased
but the side lobe level performances improved. The simu-
lations done in HFSS have a closer resemblance to theory
of radome performance.
From the perspective of measurement, the return loss
and insertion loss has been recorded for the radome in the
W-band. A radome piece having different thicknesses has
also been measured using the Rhode & Shwarz VNA. As
a step further, to study the radome pattern characteristic,
Fabry perot periodic resonating dipoles are simulated on
a radome of desired thickness. The height of the radome
from the ground plane is optimized in order to get a 3-
dB gain at the region of interest. After implementation
it was observed that, around 76.5 GHz the setup which is
described later on acquired a gain of 20.33 dB. Although
it is a high gain and low profile solution, it comes with
a cost of narrow beam-width. Thus one has to optimize
the number of periodic elements along with phase tapering
in order to achieve the desirable beam characteristics. In
short, the thesis outlines the theory and thinking behind
designing a radome, its effect on the antenna and how one
can resolve the issues.
Referat

“Radom” är ett nödvändigt sköld för varje typ av an-


tenn. Dess form, tjocklek, mekaniska och elektriska egen-
skaper definiera dess tillämpning. Denna avhandling beskri-
ver främst kring de tekniker som används för radom ana-
lys i W-band med hjälp av elektromagnetiska simulering i
HFSS och CST Microwave Studio. Mätningar av dielekt-
ricitetskonstant av många material görs inte vid så höga
frekvenser och därmed en inte säker på dess materialegen-
skaper. Denna avhandling ingår i en undersökning om ma-
terial som är tillämpliga i W-band regim och som ger en
robust prestanda med en enda typ av material eller all-
mänt känd som Style Aradomer. Avhandlingen beskriver
vidare, formen och tjockleken modifiering av radomen. Den
överväger om valet av solver inblandade och de olika för-
delar och nackdelar med de elektromagnetiska lösare med
avseende på det aktuella fallet. Flera försök har gjorts på
var och en av dessa plattformar och endast relevanta resul-
tat har presenterats. Antennen studeras är en “Travelling
Wave Micro Patch Antenna” när simuleras med ett jord-
plan storlek 18.6λ X 25λ. Denna antenn har utsatts för oli-
ka storlekar av jordplanet i syfte att erhålla den realistisk
miljö som den skall simuleras i. Det observerades att när
tjockleken av material ökade, förstärkningen genom rado-
men slutna antennerna minskade men nivå föreställningar
Sido lob förbättras. Dessutom är en bättre matchning erhål-
lits med tjockare radomer. Simuleringarna görs i HFSS har
en närmare likhet med teoretiska uttalanden av radomen
prestanda. Ur mätningen, har avkastningen förlust och in-
länkningsdämpningen registrerats för radomen i W-bandet.
Radomen har olika tjocklekar har mätts med hjälp av Rho-
de & Shwarz VNA. Som ett ytterligare steg för att förbättra
i radomen mönster egenskap, Perot Fabry periodiska reso-
nans dipoler simuleras på en radom med önskad tjocklek.
Höjden på radomen från jordplanet är optimerad för att få
en 3dB förstärkning vid området av intresse. Efter genom-
förandet konstaterades att omkring 76,5 vid installationen
GHz vid som beskrivs senare förvärvat en vinst på 20,33
dB. Även om det är en hög förstärkning lösning och låg
profil lösning, kommer det med en kostnad av smal smala-
re bredd av strålning. Sålunda behövs en optimering av det
antalet periodiska element tillsammans med fas avsmalnan-
de i syfte att uppnå de önskvärda balkegenskaper. I korthet
beskriver avhandlingen teori och tänkande bakom utforma
en radom, dess effekt på antennen och hur man kan lösa
problemen för att få en mer realistisk lösning.
Preface

This report is the final thesis in the master study in Investigation of mm-wave
Radomes at Acreo Swedish ICT in association with the department of Electro-
physics, Faculty of Electromagnetic Engineering, at the KTH-Royal Institute of
Technology, Sweden.
The report has been written in the period February 2016 - October 2016. The
work has combined doing robust simulation in commercially available electromag-
netic solvers, mechanical and electrical design as well as laboratory measurements.
The nature of the topic, has been very beneficial for me as it helped me gain knowl-
edge in one of the most challenging field in the automotive industry with regard to
antennas. It has given me a deep insight on the electromagnetic solvers and their
functioning, the intuition of understanding the electromagnetic theory involved be-
hind the design of radomes, the hands on experience of doing lab measurements.
I would like to thank my examiner Oscar Q. Terual and supervisor Mahsa E.
Hamlkar at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology for their constant guidance
and advice which helped me achieve the goals of the thesis. I would also like to
extend my heart felt gratitude to Michael Salter, Duncan Platt and Lars Pettersson
at Acreo Swedish ICT for providing me with this opportunity and helping me out
throughout the thesis, to overcome the hurdles. I would also like to extend my
gratitude to Markus Laudien of Ansys who was of immense help and guidance
during the thesis. Last but not the least I would like to thank my family for their
faith in me. I would like to thank my classmates Amir Torki and Veit Langrock for
their constant encouragement throughout Masters. I would like to thank my friends
Soumik Dagupta and Deepa Krishnamurthy for their constant feedback during the
draft of the thesis.

iv
Contents

Contents v

List of Figures vii

List of Tables ix

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Overview of Radomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Antennas employed with Radomes for Automotive Radars . . . . . . 2
1.3 Problem Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Fundamentals of Radome 5
2.1 Radome Characteristics and Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Radome Interaction with the Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Basic Radome Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 Advances in Radome Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5 Basic Radome Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3 Implementation of the Radome and Travelling Wave Antenna(TWA) 13


3.1 Characteristics of TWA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 Radome structure and modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.3 Size of Ground plane and its impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.4 Simulations performed in HFSS and CST Microwave Studio environ-
ment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4.1 Choice of Solver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4.2 Implementation of the set up and simulation in CST and HFSS 23

4 Measurement Techniques 30
4.1 Measuring Insertion Loss (IL) and Return loss (RL) of Material 1 . . 30

5 Implementation of Fabry-Perot Resonator 34


5.1 Fabry Perot Resonators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5.2 Optimizing the Fabry Perot Resonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

v
6 Future Work 41

Bibliography 42
List of Figures

1.1 Evolution of radar technology over time has reached the miniaturiza-
tion of 79 GHz using 28nm silicon CMOS technology. Imec is now also
working on 140 GHz radar chips. (Source: imec) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2.1 Solid wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6


2.2 (a) Low dielectric constant with honey comb core (b) Low dielectric
constant with foam core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 (a) Double sandwich (b) More than five layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 High dielectric constant core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5 Reflection-transmission through a dielectric slab . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.6 Reflection through half wave radome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.1 Travelling wave series fed microstrip patch array antenna operating at
76.5 GHz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 Modified radome shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
(a) The Return Loss (S11) of the TWA patch array antenna for all
the three cases in CST Microwave Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
(b) The Return Loss (S11) of the TWA patch array antenna for all
the three cases in HFSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
(a) E-plane pattern of the TWA Patch array in all the three cases
simulated in CST Microwave Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
(b) H-plane pattern of the TWA Patch array in all the three cases
simulated in CST Microwave Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
(a) E-plane pattern of the TWA Patch array in all the three cases
simulated in HFSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
(b) H-plane pattern of the TWA Patch array in all the three cases
simulated in HFSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

vii
3.6 The TWA patch array antenna enclosed in the radome . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.7 The comparison of various E-M solvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.8 Lit and Shadowed regions for a PO assigned dielectric region . . . . . . 22
3.9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
(a) E-plane radiation pattern of Material 1 at 76.5 GHz of thickness
1.18 mm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
(b) H-plane radiation pattern of Material 1 at 76.5 GHz of thickness
1.18 mm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
(a) E-plane radiation pattern of Dyneema at 76.5 GHz of thickness
1.3 mm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
(b) H-plane radiation pattern of Dyneema at 76.5 GHz of thickness
1.3 mm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
(a) E-plane radiation pattern of Rexolite at 76.5 GHz of thickness
1.23 mm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
(b) H-plane radiation pattern of Rexolite at 76.5 GHz of thickness
1.23 mm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.12 Return loss of Material 1 radome enclosed antenna compared to Antenna
with large finite GND plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4.1 The vertically aligned Material 1 Radome between the W-band horns . 30
4.2 Return loss and insertion loss when there is no radome . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
(a) The insertion loss through the radome of Material 1 in horizon-
tal and vertical alignments at 0 degree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
(b) The return loss through the radome of Material 1 in horizontal
and vertical alignments at 0 degree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.4 The return loss and insertion loss recorded through pieces of 6.27mm ,
4.72mm and 2.49mm of Material 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

5.1 Arrangement of the simulation set up of the PRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36


5.2 Cell design of Fabry Perot resonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
(a) Reflection and transmission band of the unit cell . . . . . . . . 37
5.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
(b) Reflection and Transmission phase coefficient of the unit cell at
normal incidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.4 Implementation of the Fabry Perot resonator using the dipole elements
from 76-77 GHz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
(a) Gain realized in the E-plane with the dipole elements . . . . . 39
5.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
(b) Gain realized in the H-plane with the dipole elements . . . . . 40
List of Tables

2.1 Some common radome materials at 10 GHz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3.1 Parameters of the TWA antenna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14


3.2 summarizes the performance of all the three cases implemented in both
the solvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.3 The list of materials of the radome and their dielectric properties . . . . 24
3.4 Comparison of the solved radome materials between CST and HFSS at
76.5 GHz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

5.1 Optimization parameter for Fabry Perot Unit Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

ix
Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Overview of Radomes


“Radome” is a portmanteau of the words, “Radar and Dome”. It functions as a
structural and weatherproof enclosure to the antenna in such a manner that it has
least interference with the transmission from it. Their history and development
comes a long way as they have withstood the test of blowing winds and thermal
instabilities . In order to balance aerodynamic forces as well have good thermal
properties throughout, the shape and material of the radomes have been a topic of
interest since ages.
It is interestingly a component which both the RF engineer and a Mechanical engi-
neer can describe but each would have their own jargon. In an industrially viable
product it is imperative to satisfy the quench of both the engineers and thus, this
is a pure optimization problem. Thus depending upon the type of application, the
radomes have either a nose cone type shape, flat slab with rounded edge struc-
tures or spherical structures. In this manner a simple plastic cover which is just a
protective cover for antennas against environmental damage became a RF simula-
tion problem. Moreover, just designing the shape and choosing the material does
not help to solve the problem efficiently, but also one has to take care about the
thickness of the slab, the dielectric properties as well as the distance of it from the
radiating structure. These parameters are explained further in the chapters below.
Many applications such as base station antennas , maritime satellites, aircraft, mis-
sile guiding systems as well as radars employ radomes [14]. This thesis, deals with
radomes in radar applications and emphasizes on the point that when employing it
with a radar, how the radome should not change the antenna radiation character-
istics and maintain a similar gain characteristics. It is intuitive that enclosing the
radome on the antenna, will incur losses and that there will be a degradation in
the performance of the antenna. But, the challenge lies in the fact of compensating
these losses or atleast getting the antenna upto the desired performance level. For
this purpose, simulating the antenna along with the radome becomes very crucial.
In today’s times, we have very powerful simulators, [1, 2] ,which can handle elec-

1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

trically large structures and go upto very high frequencies. One can model them
approximately and try to achieve as much as a realistic environment as possible.
With these commercially available electromagnetic simulators it is possible to vary
each parameter of interest and study its influence on the antenna. These parameters
and formulations will also be explained later on in the proceeding chapters.

1.2 Antennas employed with Radomes for Automotive


Radars
The automotive industry is witnessing a paradigm shift in its radar frequency range
and is slowly moving towards frequencies of 76-81GHz [13]. Popularly termed as the
mm-wave radars, they now employ sensors and other devices, which are operating
at these frequencies. Thus, the radome market from its conventional choice of
material is also forced to progress parallelly. The fundamental reason behind this
frequency shift is that to achieve a wider bandwidth, which will permit a high
resolution of multiple objects when the radar is scanning. An indispensable part
of the radar system is the antenna which has evolved with time. For the above
mentioned frequency range, planar array antennas are a popular choice due to their
low profile, low cost as well as adaptability to integrate in existing systems. Since
the frequency range gets higher, the devices also shrink causing a space constraint
in the mounting region. Thus for obtaining the effective antenna aperture efficiency,
one has to carefully levy the choice. The popular argument can also be to place a
lens antenna, but the difficultly to construct in the given area and the cost makes it
a less competitive choice to planar array antennas for automotive radars inspite of
their incurring high losses. Moreover, the element widths can be tapered to achieve
the required performance in Side Lobe Levels. From an industrial perspective, they
can be reliably reproduced with existing standard common circuit board processes.
Along with the Rx-Tx antennas, many other devices are also integrated on the
same circuit board, which is also enclosed by the radome. Thus, the challenge in
this thesis is to solve an electrically large W-band radome-antenna interaction.

2
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

Figure 1.1: Evolution of radar technology over time has reached the miniaturization
of 79 GHz using 28nm silicon CMOS technology. Imec is now also working on 140
GHz radar chips. (Source: imec)

1.3 Problem Description


As mentioned previously, there is a unanimous momentum towards a worldwide-
harmonized frequency allocation for automotive radars from 76GHz-81 GHz band-
width. Multiple objects cannot be identified if they appear in the same congested
frequency range, as they will have low resolution. With the allocation of new fre-
quency bandwidth of around 5 GHz, it will be possible to distinguish each object.
Also the size of devices corresponding to these wavelengths have miniaturized dras-
tically. In other words, the size of high frequency circuits and radar components
have reduced as the frequency has escalated. ‘Radomes’ are electromagnetic win-
dows which covers the antenna and yet makes it transparent to the environment.
They are much-needed electromagnetic as well as mechanical device, which provide
the necessary support, robustness, weather resistance as well as good radiation per-
formance for the antenna. Under all operational circumstances, the radome should
not influence or disturb the performance of the antenna and hence is a very cru-
cial component from design perspective. For analyzing the reflection, transmission
and losses through the radome, the dielectric constant, loss tangent as well as the
material thickness are significant parameters in the regime of operation. For an
accurate and reliable idea about the analysis of the radome the following tasks were
investigated further:

1. Performing a literature survey of the materials available -


Since the antenna operates in the frequencies from 73 GHz to 81 GHz, the
materials to be used for the radome need to be measured in this frequency
range and a study needs to be performed about how sensitive they are. Its

3
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

mechanical properties too need to be investigated, as it has to withstand


extreme temperatures.

2. Analyzing the given radome structure in HFSS simulation environment and


studying its shape and material properties coupled with the travelling wave
patch antenna array -
This case study, which is to be elucidated further has taken into account an
array of travelling wave patch antenna array which has a resonance around
76.5 GHz within an enclosed radome. The reflection coefficient, the radiation
pattern that is the E and H-plane patterns has to be analyzed with optimum
thickness, optimum shape as well as correct permittivity. For these types of
simulations, HFSS internally has many solvers. One has to judge which solver
will take into account all the problems and solve each component involved in
a realistic manner.

3. Comparing the same design and recreating the environment in CST for arriv-
ing at the same results -
This particular step always adds value from an academic perspective since,
different solvers employ different algorithms and to compare their solutions is
always a way to identify errors or get an assurance that the problem has been
picturized and modelled in a correct manner.

4. Measuring the Radome performance -


This step was performed to check the insertion loss, reflection coefficient and
to get an insight of the permittivity of the material at the frequency of interest.

5. Overview of the concept of Fabry Perot Resonators -


Based upon the conclusion of the results obtained, a Fabry Perot model has
been suggested in order to verify that a 3-dB gain as per theory is obtained
in E and H-plane pattern of the radome for future models.

The Thesis is organized as follows:

• Chapter 2 is dedicated to Literature Review of radomes, the errors they in-


troduce in the antenna and their important parameters to be taken into con-
sideration. It also explains, basic radome calculations.

• Chapter 3, outlines the basic theory and concept visualization of single layer
radome.It also comprises of the comparison of results of HFSS versus CST
Microwave Studio.

• Chapter 4 consists of the Measurement Set up and its results about the per-
formance of the radome.

• Chapter 5 introduces the concept of Fabry Perot resonators and their appli-
cation at such high frequencies.

4
Chapter 2

Fundamentals of Radome

2.1 Radome Characteristics and Types


The radome cover of a radar sensor is the backbone of the design as it can have
influence on sensitivity, radiation pattern and immunity to vibrations. The motive
of an efficient radome design is to reduce reflections at the surface of the cover and
transmit waves “losslessly” [10]. Thus, the cover material can be thought of as a lens
which either focuses or disperses waves uniformly. For this purpose a constant and
uniform thickness of the material is required and it must also have a good surface
smoothness. The radome surface should preferably be covered with a hydrophobic
substance like a variant of silicon or Teflon.

It was from the time of World War II, 1940’s that radome become such a boiling
topic in the microwave community. Materials such as plywood, polyseterene fiber,
plexi glass etc. were employed and it became the then state of the art. Signifi-
cant contributions were made during that period by Cady [4] [9] who described the
electrical design of normal and streamlined radomes and their installation, together
with the theory of reflection and transmission of electromagnetic waves through
dielectric materials. Hansen, [9] focused on large ground radomes, their environ-
mental, structural and design problems, as well as on methods of construction,
including metal spaced frame radomes covered with thin dielectric materials, etc.
Nowadays Frequency Selective Surfaces, Transformation optics, Rasorbers, etc are
used to improve the radome performance.

As antennas, climbed up in frequencies, the radome materials also changed and


so did their construction, installation, tooling and transportation. Classically the
radome constructions can be classified as follows:

a. Air pressure supported dielectric structure


b. Self-supporting dielectric structure
c. Widely spaced metallic or non-metallic frames supporting dielectric windows

5
CHAPTER 2. FUNDAMENTALS OF RADOME

d. Metal surfaces covered with dielectric covered slotted or other shaped win-
dows.

One can also distinguish them based on their dielectric wall construction: [14]

a. Style A: Radomes are half wave wall solid (monolithic) radomes.

b. Style B: Radomes are thin-wall monolithic structures with a wall thickness


equal to or less than 0.1λ wavelengths at the highest operating frequency.

Figure 2.1: Solid wall

c. Style C: Radomes are also called A-sandwich multilayer walls. These consist
of three layers: two high-density skins and a low-density core material. The
dielectric constant of the skins is greater than the dielectric constant of the
core material.

Figure 2.2: (a) Low dielectric constant with honey comb core (b) Low dielectric
constant with foam core

d. Style D: Radomes (C-Sandwich) are multilayer walled structures having five


or more dielectric layers. These have an odd number of high-density skin
layers and an even number of low-density core layers. The dielectric constants
of the skins are greater than the dielectric constants of the core materials.
As the number of layers is increased, the broadband frequency performance is
improved.

6
CHAPTER 2. FUNDAMENTALS OF RADOME

Figure 2.3: (a) Double sandwich (b) More than five layers

e. Style E: Radomes are defined here in as all possible radome wall construction
not fitting into styles A through D. These include the B-sandwich and others.
The B-sandwich is similar to the A-sandwich except it consists of two low-
density skins and a high-density core material. The dielectric constant of the
skins is less than the dielectric constant of the core material.

Figure 2.4: High dielectric constant core

2.2 Radome Interaction with the Antenna


The antennas employed in the radar application have very strict requirements and
hence it needs to be thoroughly checked as the radome can alter their performances
[14] [9] in the following ways:

a. Transmission loss: This results from the reflection against the radome walls,
reflection and diffraction around the corners and edges as well as polarization
shift. The remainder of the loss occurs from dissipation within the dielectric
layers. The material loss tangent or tanδ is a measure of these dissipative
losses.

b. Pattern and polarization distortions: This results in the change of main


beam direction and shape, increase in side lobe level and cross polarization
components also increases.

c. Boresight Error (BSE): BSE is a bending of the angle of arrival of a received


signal relative to its actual angle of arrival or line of sight. This phenomenon
occurs due to distortions of the electromagnetic wave-front as it propagates
through a dielectric radome wall. BSE depends on frequency, polarization,
and antenna orientation. In production, the radome manufacturing tolerance
affects the BSES characteristics of the radome.

7
CHAPTER 2. FUNDAMENTALS OF RADOME

d. Registration error: Registration error is the difference in uplink frequency


and downlink frequency BSE in the case of radome-enclosed SATCOM anten-
nas. It is important that this parameter be sufficiently small to assure that
both the transmit beam and receive beam peaks are coaligned on the same
satellite.
e. Antenna Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR): The antenna VSWR
can greatly increase from RF power reflected from the inner radome wall
surface.

Inspite of these disadvantages, on the other hand one gets a large number of
operational, structural as well as economic advantages when the radome is mounted.
To mention a few, the antenna now is protected from the harsh environment and
does not need any special maintenance. Although the radome, will wither with time.
The over-all system is much more accurate and reliable as it is not susceptible to
any changes.

2.3 Basic Radome Requirements


Radomes have to satisfy aerodynamic, structural and electromagnetic requirements,
as well as environmental and installation problems, such as occur when they are
installed on ship, submarine, ground, aircraft, missile, vehicle etc. The electro-
magnetic requirements could call for certain limits to transmission loss, aberration,
polarization, pattern distortion, reflection levels etc., while the structural design
must satisfy the shape, size and load requirements under all conditions with an
adequate safety factor.

Environmental requirements [14]


Typical environmental conditions that may be called for are:

a. Temperature: Ground radomes −56°C to +80°C.


b. Relative humidity: 100%
c. Pressure: Ground radomes may have to stand pressures resulting from wind
speeds of up to 240km/h.
d. Loads: Ice, hail and snow loads have to be allowed for, together with possible
impact loads from birds, stones etc.
e. Rain: On ground radomes, rain adhesion should be minimized.
f. Vibration, shock and acceleration: Ground radomes should withstand seismic
loads, e.g. up to 1g, depending upon site.
g. Fire, lightning and radiation hazards: Materials should be fire retardant, and
the radome should withstand salt, dust, insects, fungi, fuels, etc.

8
CHAPTER 2. FUNDAMENTALS OF RADOME

In conclusion, this thesis focuses primarily on mechanical parameters like strength,


hardness, material density, water absorption, rain erosion and extreme climate tem-
perature withstanding capacity, etc.

2.4 Advances in Radome Material


The key to obtain an optimized radome performance is evaluating the electrical
properties of the material at possible wavelengths. The influential parameters are
the material dielectric constant and the dissipation loss factor at the frequency of
interest. [4]

The radome wall construction are typically of either the monolithic type or
the sandwich design type. Since the focus in this thesis is mostly on monolithic
radomes, a detailed outline and some commonly used materials shall be presented.
The monolithic radomes often incorporate fiber reinforcement in order to enhance
the mechanical properties. Thus the relative dielectric constant that we obtain from
the mixture [4] is as follows:

VR log R + VF log F
m = (2.1)
VR + VF
Where,

m = relative dielectric constant of mixture


R = relative dielectric constant of the resin
Vr = Volume of dielectric resin
Vf = Volume of reinforcement fibers
(2.1) Assumes that the mixture is uniform and isotropic
Table 2.1 lists down few materials which are commonly used in the X band.
But as we are dealing in the mm-wave band, monolithic radomes are manufactured
without reinforcement. These are mostly termed as the organic materials. There is
also another type of material called the inorganic or ceramic material. The advan-
tage that inorganic materials have is that they can last at very high temperatures
such as 500◦C. These materials are suitable for high velocity applications such as
missile systems. To name a few, aluminium oxide, Rayceram, Pyroceram, etc.
After 1999, when Rodger M. Wasler formally defined metamaterials, there was
an advancement to study antenna radome metamaterials. Research was done using
multilayered structures composed of two materials which together had a refractive
index as close to air or below (mention reference number Liu et al). They can be
used to compensate BSE, improve gain, directivity, etc. but yes they come at the
price of a narrower beam-width.
Another type of inclusions on the radome walls are commonly known as Fre-
quency Selective Surfaces (FSS) [18]. This layer can be arranged inside, outside

9
CHAPTER 2. FUNDAMENTALS OF RADOME

or even embedded within the radome wall. They are usually a periodic array of
etched antenna elements that can be used to either reflect or transmit electromag-
netic waves with a frequency discretion. A FSS can take many forms and strips,
slots, square loops, omega units and Jerusalem crosses have all been used in array
configuration on the radome surfaces.

Material Permittivity () Loss tangent (δ)


Polycarbonate 2.9 0.005
E-glass 6.06 0.004
Epoxy 4.4 0.016
Nylon 3.03 - 3.21 0.014 - 0.02
Teflon 2.1 0.0003
Polystyrene 2.55 0.0004

Table 2.1: Some common radome materials at 10 GHz

2.5 Basic Radome Calculations


Under, ideal condition a radome should be invisible to the electromagnetic waves,
and that can be achieved by matching the width of the material slab. Materials
with low dielectric constants and tanδ losses is preferred as it will lead to less
reflections at the boundary. However, one cannot ignore mechanical, economic and
environmental factors while ultimately making the choice.
Since, monolithic radomes are studied in detail in this thesis, the radome calcu-
lations [10, 11] show cased will be pertaining to monolithic dielectrics. A dielectric
is characterized by its characteristic impedance given by:

377Ω
ZD = √ (2.2)

Where r is relative pemittivity of the material.

In other words, when the incident wave strikes on the surface of the dielectric a
part of the wave is transmitted and a part of it is reflected back (as shown in Figure
2.5).

Figure 2.5: Reflection-transmission through a dielectric slab

10
CHAPTER 2. FUNDAMENTALS OF RADOME

Figure 2.6: Reflection through half wave radome

A radome that is electrically thin (less than 0.1λ) will generally deliver good RF
performance. This is because signal reflections at the freespace-dielectric boundary
are cancelled out by out-of-phase reflections from the dielectric-free space boundary
on the other side of the dielectric material. Unfortunately, electrically thin radomes
provide very little thermal insulation and are not suitable for locations with wide
temperature extremes and a requirement for controlled temperatures.

Another radome approach that works well is,the half-wavelength-thick solid lam-
inate, as in Figure 2.6. In this case, the wave travels 180° through the laminate, it
is then reflected with a phase shift of −180°, and travels another 180° on the return
trip to achieve the net 180° phase shift required for cancellation. [10, 15]
c0
λ0 = (2.3)
fc
λ0
λm = √ (2.4)
r
λm
Tm = n (2.5)
2
fc : resonating frequency
r : dielectric constant
c: speed of light
λ0 : free space wavelength
λm : wavelength in dielectric

Optimal distance between antenna and radome [10] allows minimizing the effects
of reflections caused by the radome. These effects become minimal if the waves
returned at the antenna are in phase with the transmitted waves. The radomes are
very sensitive to this distance as it affects the radiation pattern drastically. The
optimum distance, dm is given by:

11
CHAPTER 2. FUNDAMENTALS OF RADOME

λ0
dm = (2.6)
2
Distances < λ0 /2 should be avoided while distances greater than that are not
as critical and can be optimized through various algorithms.

12
Chapter 3

Implementation of the Radome and


Travelling Wave Antenna(TWA)

3.1 Characteristics of TWA


As mentioned previously, planar antennas are the popular choice at automotive
frequencies due to their low cost, low profile and easy to integrate technology. In
this thesis, the operating regime is 73 GHz to 81 GHz and the patch array antenna
has a resonating frequency of 76.5 GHz. Figure 3.1 and table 3.1 summarize the
characteristics of the antenna. A patch antenna mainly propagates surface waves
on the radiating edges of the E–plane and it travels along the column as indicated
by the arrow towards E-plane [13]. Comparatively, the H-plane pattern is not in-
fluenced by the surface waves as the elements do not excite them in that direction
of propagation.

Figure 3.1: Travelling wave series fed microstrip patch array antenna operating at
76.5 GHz

In order to suppress the grating lobes, care is taken that the mutual distance
between each element in the column is lesser than half the free space wavelength.
According to theory, since the column contains few antenna elements, series feeding

13
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

Parameter Specification
Type Series fed TWA
Solution Frequency 76.5 GHz
Substrate Roger 3003
εr of Roger 3003 3.045
Thickness 0.13 mm
Small GND size 4.6λ X 1.53λ
Large GND size 18.6λ X 25λ

Table 3.1: Parameters of the TWA antenna.

is the feasible solution which will also support beam forming in the elevation plane.

The critical task, which affects the matching of an array is the length of the high
impedance line which ensure the transformation at the edge of the patch. It is this
length, that dictates the phase distribution across the array, which in turn influences
the radiation pattern. The main beam should point in the broadside direction, so
the interconnecting lines’ lengths are adjusted for 360° phase shift between the
input edges of consecutive patches. If we observe carefully, the impedance line is
terminated in a fashion that after the last patch element there is an inward inset.
This inset length controls the global input reactance and thus improves the matching
without affecting the center frequency. Keeping these rules in mind, this kind of
antenna can be designed to obtain a complete set up of Rx-Tx arrays with different
feeding network. As the number of columns are increased, care has to be taken to
adjust the space between them and tuning of the feeding network, which can be
done with a differential single element patch, etc. [13] But, in this thesis for now,
we will deal with one such column to study the influence of radome on it, using
different electromagnetic simulators. The radiation pattern and return loss of the
antenna is described in the sections below.

3.2 Radome structure and modification


Along with the automotive market, the radomes employed for them also are under-
going a revolutionary change . Analysis techniques too , have been modified and
better and powerful simulators have been introduced in order to obtain realistic and
stable results. But, as the complexity of solutions and approaches have improved
a price we pay for that is computation time which has become the most vied for
factor today.

As more and more sensors are incorporated and the Rx-Tx antennas need to
be mounted, an electrically large radome is needed. With electrically large struc-
tures, comes the baggage of constructing them properly so that the simulator can
divide them into their adaptive meshes. Moreover , one has to keep in mind the

14
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

hardware specification of the device also which can afford to store such complex
matrix calculations. In conclusion, the structure needs to be made as simple as
possible for the purpose of simulation. As the interest is to study the shape of the
radome and realize its effect on the radiation pattern, one must keep in mind the
symmetry, aperture and bends involved in the shape. As the number of radius of
curvature increases to realize the shape, it is true that the internal reflections will
indeed be minimized but simulating such a structure with different aperture radii
will consume a lot of memory power.

The original radome structure studied in this thesis has a size of approximately
56λ X 37.5λ (Where λ is calculated at 76.5 GHz). Thus, the structure is quite large
and consumes a lot of computation power. Meshing such a structure accurately and
simplifying it can be quite a challenge at these high frequencies. Hence, the idea
was to create a similar shaped model but of a smaller size. This would give an edge
of a faster computation time as well as give a perspective about the behavior of the
various radome materials tested. Figure 3.2 illustrates the modified radome shape
used for the study further. The electrical size of this radome is 22.5λ X 12.53λ.
Thus , a smoothly rounded and symmetrical shape was designed . This reduced
the number of meshing cells involved with the simulators. In this shape, just the
material and thickness parameters, were varied to study the radome performances.

Figure 3.2: Modified radome shape

3.3 Size of Ground plane and its impact


The electrical size of the ground plane determines the field radiated from the an-
tenna. Thus, the termination of the ground plane is of grave importance. Proper
edge shaping and termination reduces the effect of leaky waves.

In the case of TWA patch array, an infinite ground plane was modelled in both
CST and HFSS. Since , practically one has to have a finite size of the ground plane,
termination of the surface waves is desired [15]. This would help to prevent spurious
radiation patterns from the antenna radiation. Thus, a study has been performed
based on three different cases in CST and HFSS. A comparison of those results is
presented along with their reported return loss and gain values. The following three

15
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

cases considered are:

(i) Case 1: Antenna placed on infinite ground plane

(ii) Case 2: Antenna placed on finite small ground plane

(iii) Case 3: Antenna placed on finite large ground plane

The electrical sizes of the small and large electrical ground plane is mentioned
in Table 3.1. The concept behind including the word infinite and finite is that, from
the simulator point of view ,an infinite ground plane will be multiple of wavelengths
compared to the antenna structure whereas in the finite structure it would exactly
be of the size as specified to be. From Figure 3.4 and Figure 3.5, it is deduced that,
in the infinite ground plane condition ,the side lobe levels and other spurious radi-
ations from the edges is stopped and when one deals with terminating the ground
plane these radiations show up. But, their level is so low and their effect on the
gain is minimal and hence it can be lived with.

(a) The Return Loss (S11) of the TWA patch array antenna for all the three cases in
CST Microwave Studio

Figure 3.3

16
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

(b) The Return Loss (S11) of the TWA patch array antenna for all the three
cases in HFSS

Figure 3.3

(a) E-plane pattern of the TWA Patch array in all the three cases simulated in
CST Microwave Studio

Figure 3.4

17
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

(b) H-plane pattern of the TWA Patch array in all the three cases simulated in
CST Microwave Studio

Figure 3.4

(a) E-plane pattern of the TWA Patch array in all the three cases simulated in
HFSS

Figure 3.5

18
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

(b) H-plane pattern of the TWA Patch array in all the three cases simulated in
HFSS

Figure 3.5

Antenna Parameters CST HFSS


Gain(dB) Gain(dB)
Frequency=76.5 GHz
(E/Hplane) (E/Hplane)
Antenna with infinite
13.9/13.9 13.7/13.7
GND
Antenna with finite
13.06/13.06 13.7/13.7
small GND
Antenna with finite
large GND (wave- 12.92/12.92 13.42/13.42
port/lumpedport)

Table 3.2: summarizes the performance of all the three cases implemented in both
the solvers

Thus we see that both the simulations in CST and HFSS with the same envi-
ronment as seen in Table 3.2 yields similar results.

19
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

3.4 Simulations performed in HFSS and CST Microwave


Studio environment
3.4.1 Choice of Solver
The radome model as shown in Figure 3.2 was implemented on top of the TWA
patch array antenna in both the HFSS and CST environment. The set up looked
like as shown in Figure 3.6.

Figure 3.6: The TWA patch array antenna enclosed in the radome

The main quest that remained to be solved was still the type of electromagnetic
solver to be considered for obtaining the accurate results . The choice of optimum
solver depending upon the 3-D geometry and material of the structure is to be made.

In this thesis, HFSS and CST have been considered for doing the simulation. In
HFSS, there are the following types of solvers:

• Integral equation (IE) solver which is based on Method of Moments (MoM)

• Finite Element Method (FEM) which is a frequency domain solver based on


differential form of Maxwell’s equation

• Physical Optics (PO) solver which is based on the principle of high frequency
asymptotic solver.

• Hybrid Solver, namely as Finite Element-Boundary Integral (FE-BI) and Hy-


brid PO solvers.

In short, it is a choice between the complexity of materials involved versus the


electrical size of the problem. There is an interesting depiction of this chart shown in
Figure 3.7 which is extracted from [6]. “Meshing” though a very important trigger
word in the discussions ahead either is used to reduce the problem size or increase
it in critical areas. In CST, the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) solver
which is based on full wave solving technique, generates partial differential forms of
the Maxwell equations and adjusts them to central difference equations and then
discretizes .

To begin with firstly with the FEM solver which is the most popular solver
in HFSS. In this particular solver, there is a fixed volume of “box” defined [17].
This box encloses the boundary conditions and geometry to be solved. The mesh

20
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

is discretized into tetrahedrons and it is much denser near the geometry. The main
unknown that the solver solves for is the field quantity. Thus, this type of mesh-
ing is called the volume based meshing. Though this type of solver is very good
with complex geometry or materials, the slack that one faces that it needs a lot of
computation space to store the coefficients of the matrix and moreveover for this
problem one would prefer an open scattering environment.

Next, moving on with the Physical Optics solver [3]. It employs the technique of
illuminating a smooth and locally flat region. It is not a full wave solution and hence
must be thought twice before implementing it. The structure which is declared as
a PO region needs to be atleast 10λ times large and also 10 wavelengths away from
the radiating source, which is not the case in our problem statement [5]. Moreover,
the radome structure is highly rounded and has curved surfaces which will lead to
multi path reflections. Thus, while solving for the currents on the surface, it solves
for the currents on the ‘lit’ region and declares the rest as a ‘shadowed’ region as
shown in Figure 3.8. Hence, the entire surface of the radome is ‘NOT’ taken into
account while analyzing the solution.

Figure 3.7: The comparison of various E-M solvers

21
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

Figure 3.8: Lit and Shadowed regions for a PO assigned dielectric region

Lit Region:
j = (1 − R)n × H inc (3.1a)

e = (1 + R)n × E inc × n (3.1b)


Shadowed Region:
j = −T n × H inc (3.2a)

e = −T n × E inc × n (3.2b)
Where,

kz2 − kzs_µ
2 − (kz2 − kzs_µ
2 )e−2jkzs dd
R=
(kz + kzs_µ )2 − (kz − kzs_µ )2 e−2jkzs dd
4(kz kzs_µ )e−jkzs dd
T =
(kz + kzs_µ )2 − (kz − kzs_µ )2 e−2jkzs dd

kz = k0 , kzs = kz r µr , kzs_µ = kzs /µr

Thus, moving onto the IE solver [2] used in HFSS. It is based on method of mo-
ments technique, to solve for the currents on the surfaces of dielectric and metallic
objects in an open scattering environment. This solver utilizes adaptive meshing
technique which designs the optimum mesh needed around the object to consider in
order to reduce the complexity and time involved in the iterative solving technique.
This particular solver was closely related to a possible solution for the thesis, since
it models open scattering problems reliably.

The FE-BI approach [16] involves a box around the antenna could be solved
with FEM inside it and a conformal boundary around the radome where it is solved
as IE region within and interaction can be recorded between the two boundaries
with this hybrid FE-BI technique. The slack in this method is that the, dielectric
region is a IE region and the ground plane which is a metallic IE region cannot be
in contact with each other in a hybrid solving technique.

22
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

Thus, the simulations in HFSS were performed with the antenna solved in a
FEM region and the large ground plane declared as IE region as the ground plane
should be exposed to open scattering and the radiation pattern obtained was linked
to the input field in the radome model which was simulated in the IE environment.
The results of this simulation are discussed in section 3.4.2.

Finally, boiling down to the FDTD solver which was employed in CST Mi-
crowave studio for simulation is a full wave 3D simulator but based on partial
differential equations of the Maxwellian equations. Boundary conditions can be set
in the domain and a box is formed. The entire volume of the simulation domain is
discretized, usually using hexahedral mesh cells. FDTD uses a time stepping algo-
rithm which updates the field values across the mesh cell time-step by time-step,
thereby explicitly following the electromagnetic waves as they propagate through
the structure. One of the significant benefits over the FEM method is that FDTD
technique does not require a matrix solve and thus very large problems can often
be addressed using surprisingly small amounts of computer memory.

On the other hand, the FDTD faces a problem known as “Stair-stepping edges”
[12]. The orthogonal grid structure of the FDTD method implies that edges of
structures within the simulation have edges that follow the grid structure. This can
become a problem for curved surfaces, for which greater accuracy is sought .

3.4.2 Implementation of the set up and simulation in CST and HFSS


As shown in Fig 3.6, the set up was implemented in FDTD solver of CST and the IE
coupled with FEM solver in HFSS. The thickness of the materials tested were λ/2
and 3λ/2. Only for Material 1 which was the initially specified material, a nominal
manufactured thickness has been implemented. Table 3.3 summarizes the materials
tested along with their thickness and dielectric properties.

23
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

Radome Material Loss tangent


Thickness (mm)
Properties (tanδ)
1.18
Material 1(=2.74)
3.55
Measured: 20 GHz 0.0009 (@20 GHz)
Nominal= 3.2

Dyneema ST-17
0.00018 1.3
( =2.28)
(@60 GHz) 3.89
Measured: 60 GHz
Rexolite 1422
0.00066 1.23
( =2.53)
(@10 GHz) 3.69
Measured: 500 GHz

Table 3.3: The list of materials of the radome and their dielectric properties

Fig 3.9 illustrates the radiation pattern of the E and H- planes when Material
1 was used as the radome material having a thickness of half-wavelength as shown
in Table 3.3. Similarly, Figure 3.10 reflect on the performance of Dyneema as a
material and Figure3.11 project the results with Rexolite as radome,also at thick-
nesses of half-wavelength. Each of these thicknesses have been executed in CST
and HFSS environments. The figures illustrate the comparison between the same
case being implemented in different solvers. Table 3.4 documents the performance
of these antenna enclosed radomes in both CST and HFSS with regard to the gain
and side lobe levels.

Material Thickness (mm) Type of Solver Gain (dB) SLL (dB)


CST 13.00 -16.4
Material 1 1.18
HFSS 15.04 -18.47
CST 11.70 -5.70
Material 1 3.2
HFSS 11.90 -5.56
CST 13.40 -3.70
Material 1 3.55
HFSS 13.79 -19.40
CST 13.00 -11.40
Dyneema 1.3
HFSS 13.45 -19.23
CST 13.30 -12.60
Dyneema 3.89
HFSS 13.45 -19.90
CST 12.90 -11.30
Rexolite 1.23
HFSS 14.92 -18.56
CST 13.40 -13.00
Rexolite 3.69
HFSS 13.06 -20.50

Table 3.4: Comparison of the solved radome materials between CST and HFSS at
76.5 GHz

24
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

(a) E-plane radiation pattern of Material 1 at 76.5 GHz of thickness 1.18 mm

(b) H-plane radiation pattern of Material 1 at 76.5 GHz of thickness 1.18 mm

Figure 3.9

25
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

(a) E-plane radiation pattern of Dyneema at 76.5 GHz of thickness 1.3 mm

(b) H-plane radiation pattern of Dyneema at 76.5 GHz of thickness 1.3 mm

Figure 3.10

26
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

(a) E-plane radiation pattern of Rexolite at 76.5 GHz of thickness 1.23 mm

(b) H-plane radiation pattern of Rexolite at 76.5 GHz of thickness 1.23 mm

Figure 3.11

27
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

From Figure 3.9-3.11 and Table 3.4, we deduce the following conclusions:

• From Figure 3.9-3.11 and Table 3.4 the recordings of Material 1, Dyneema and
Rexolite has agreed with the theory. It illustrated the fact, that apart from
the calculated thicknesses, the side lobe levels and the gain from the radome-
antenna system will be inferior, as in the case of Material 1 with thickness of
3.2mm. Both, HFSS and CST solutions verify that, Material 1 of thickness
3.2mm is clearly not a viable solution.
• Generally, it was observed that as the thickness of the materials increase
from λ/2 to 3λ/2 there is a decrease in the gain but improvement in the side
lobe levels. From Table 3.4, for the antenna-radome system solved in CST,
an anomaly was observed in Material 1 of thickness 3.55mm. The side lobe
levels had abruptly increased. This can be attributed to requirement of denser
meshing cells.
• From Table 3.4, it is also seen that for all the cases, the set up in CST has
recorded higher side lobe levels than HFSS. This can be attributed to the fact
that, the entire radome-antenna set up was in one complete simulation file
while that in HFSS was solved with linked radiation fields. This, could be a
reason for CST to record more accurate side lobe levels.
• It is observed that the radome structures having a thickness of half-wavelength
solutions in all the three materials have not lost in gain, bore sight error and
side lobe level. This behavior is verified by the radomes solved in HFSS and
is in accordance with theory.

Figure 3.12: Return loss of Material 1 radome enclosed antenna compared to An-
tenna with large finite GND plane

28
CHAPTER 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RADOME AND TRAVELLING WAVE
ANTENNA(TWA)

The fast solution method and short time required in CST helps to visualize
the matching parameter S11 of the entire set up. The Figure 3.12 showcases the
matching of the radome-antenna set up for Material 1 at the frequency of operation.
The figures compare the basic antenna with large ground plane to the radome
enclosed set up of different thicknesses. Similar characteristics is also observed for
the radomes composed of Dyneema and Rexolite.

29
Chapter 4

Measurement Techniques

4.1 Measuring Insertion Loss (IL) and Return loss (RL) of


Material 1
Rhode and Schwarz VNA ZVA 24 was the tool used to record the insertion and
return loss through the material of the radome. The main features of this kit are,
it has W-band extenders and WR-10 calibration kit. It has two mm-wave horns of
W-band aligned to each other. The distance between them is 13.8 cm. The radome
is placed between them at 6.9 cm. It was vertically aligned between them as shown
in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1: The vertically aligned Material 1 Radome between the W-band horns

The S-parameters were measured between the two horn antennas when no

30
CHAPTER 4. MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES

radome was kept.

Figure 4.2: Return loss and insertion loss when there is no radome

Next, the insertion loss as well as return through the radome was recorded
keeping the radome between them.It was obtained by S21open − S21radome . The
radome was kept in horizontal and vertical alignment (as shown in Fig 4.1 which
corresponds to vertical alignment). The following results were obtained.

31
CHAPTER 4. MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES

(a) The insertion loss through the radome of Material 1 in horizontal and vertical
alignments at 0 degree.

(b) The return loss through the radome of Material 1 in horizontal and vertical
alignments at 0 degree.

Figure 4.3

The next step was to cut a rectangular piece of Material 1 and de-embed it
within the waveguides so that an accurate return loss and insertion loss of various
thicknesses can be seen. It was done just to get an idea about the matching of
radomes at various thicknesses. Figure 4.4 shows the return loss and insertion loss

32
CHAPTER 4. MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES

through the thicknesses of 6.28 mm, 4.72 mm and 2.49 mm. These pieces were cut
in a manner so that it perfectly fits the face end of WR-10 waveguide.

The thinnest radome thickness has broader matching in this frequency region
and it has the lowest insertion loss as well. Depending upon the region of operation
we have observed that simulations must be done and thickness must be optimized.
Thus these measurements, gave an overall idea about the performance of Material
1.

Figure 4.4: The return loss and insertion loss recorded through pieces of 6.27mm ,
4.72mm and 2.49mm of Material 1

33
Chapter 5

Implementation of Fabry-Perot
Resonator

5.1 Fabry Perot Resonators


As seen from Chapter 3, the gain of the antenna and antenna enclosed radome
was comparable. Sometimes, it is desirable to add features such as high gain in
a particular bandwidth, etc. in both the E an H-plane in few applications. For
that purpose, there are many new concepts of ‘rasorbers’ and even transformation
optics for that matter which changes the permittivity profile of the object as the
waves traverse through it. In [8] we have also seen the implementation of matching
layers for achieving the desirable gain. One such long researched and comparatively
cheaper solution is “Fabry Perot Resonators”.

This technique delves into the concept of Partially Reflecting Surfaces (PRS)
which produces a leaky wave and beam forming affect when excited by a ground
plane wave guide aperture which in our case is a TWA Microstrip Patch Antenna.
This kind of solution is well suited for our problem where the radome can be con-
verted to a Partially Reflecting surface. The gain and amplitude depend on the
reflection from the PRS and also the distance of it from the ground plane. One
must optimize the height involved in order to get the maximum gain from the
structure. The partial reflecting surfaces can be obtained by designing a periodic
array of patches, apertures, dipoles, etc. which are also termed as Frequency Selec-
tive Surfaces. These structures either support complete reflection or transmission
within the frequency range of interest. They characteristically show case a 3-dB
gain both in the E and H-plane around the resonating frequencies.

The basic design criteria for obtaining them are:

The reflecting surfaces in this scenario are the ground plane and the PRS. The
reflection coefficient of the ground plane Rgr = 1 and the corresponding reflection

34
CHAPTER 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF FABRY-PEROT RESONATOR

phase φgr = −π. The reflection coefficient and the phase of the PRS vary with
frequency [7]. The schematic diagram of the antenna, using a partially reflective
array, is shown in Fig 5.1. An open-ended rectangular waveguide operating in the
W-band , placed within the ground plane, is used as the primary antenna since it is
simple and has adequate bandwidth. The antenna function can then be described
as follows. Waves emerging from the primary antenna travel long paths as a result
of in multiple reflections between the ground plane and the PRS. A phase shift is
introduced by the path length, the total reflection on the ground plane and also by
the phase of the reflection coefficient of the PRS. The transmitted power can be
calculated by the interference of the waves partially transmitted through the PRS.
The sum of the transmitted rays yields an analytic formula for the power pattern,
given by:

|1 − R2 (θ)|
P (θ) = h i F 2 (θ) (5.1)
4πLr
1 + R2 (θ) − 2R(θ)cos φ(θ) − π − λ0
where R(θ) is the complex reflection coefficient of the PRS as a function of θ, λ is
the free-space wavelength, and F (θ) is the radiation pattern of the primary antenna.
The resonant distance, Lr , is the distance between the PRS and the ground plane.
Maximum power at boresight is obtained when,

4πLr
φ(0) − π − = 2N π (5.2)
λ0
or,

φ(0)  λ0 λ0
Lr = −1 + N , N = 0, 1, 2... (5.3)
π 4 2
When equation 5.2 is inserted in equation 5.1, and θ is considered at 0 degrees,
then gain at boresigt is obtained to be:

1+R
G= (5.4)
1−R
Thus, to obtain a linearly increasing (with frequency) phase response will result
in a maximum gain within a certain frequency range. The gain maximum will
be determined from the magnitude of the reflection coefficient. Under these two
conditions high gain and wide bandwidth can be obtained.

35
CHAPTER 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF FABRY-PEROT RESONATOR

Figure 5.1: Arrangement of the simulation set up of the PRS

5.2 Optimizing the Fabry Perot Resonator


It has been seen that for a conducting element array the phase of the reflection co-
efficient is negative and decreases with frequency. At resonance (total reflection) its
value becomes −π. In the case of an aperture array, the reflection phase is positive
and, too, decreases with frequency until resonance (total transmission) where it be-
comes zero. Thus, a unit cell was designed firstly to get an idea about the reflection
and phase parameter. Thus, a metallic element of a dipole was designed having
width, length and thickness and periodicity. These parameters were optimized on
a dielectric block of Rexolite having a thickness of 1.23mm. Table 5.1 comprises of
the parameters used to design the cell. Figs 5.2, 5.3 (a) and (b) illustrate the unit
cell design, the reflection and phase coefficients of the unit cell respectively.

Parameters Values
Length of dipole 1.31 mm
Width of dipole 0.4 mm
Height of superstrate 1.96 mm
Thickness of superstrate 1.23
Material of superstrate Rexolite
Thickness of copper 20 µm

Table 5.1: Optimization parameter for Fabry Perot Unit Cell

36
CHAPTER 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF FABRY-PEROT RESONATOR

Figure 5.2: Cell design of Fabry Perot resonator

(a) Reflection and transmission band of the unit cell

Figure 5.3

37
CHAPTER 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF FABRY-PEROT RESONATOR

(b) Reflection and Transmission phase coefficient of the unit cell at normal incidence

Figure 5.3

After optimizing the unit cell, an array of these structures was implemented(as
shown in Figure 5.4) . The array size is of 11 X 11 such elements on a large
ground plane (size mentioned in table 5.1). A WR-10 waveguide was used to excite
the structure. The superstrate layer was placed first at Lr : 1.96mm(λ/2) above
the ground plane and then 5.88 mm (3λ/2) respectively. As the multiple of half
wavelengths increase, gain increase but the side lobe level performance deteriorates.
Fig 5.5 (a) and (b) show the 3-dB gain increase in both the E and H-plane at the
above-mentioned heights.

38
CHAPTER 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF FABRY-PEROT RESONATOR

Figure 5.4: Implementation of the Fabry Perot resonator using the dipole elements
from 76-77 GHz

(a) Gain realized in the E-plane with the dipole elements

Figure 5.5

39
CHAPTER 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF FABRY-PEROT RESONATOR

(b) Gain realized in the H-plane with the dipole elements

Figure 5.5

Thus concluding, it is observed that on one hand these structures have a very
directive beam gain of 20.33 dB at 76.5 GHz. The directivity from about 13 dB leaps
by 7dB at the frequency of interest. This low profile solution has the transmission
band in control and if the elements are tapered correctly they can exhibit good
phase control as well. On the other hand, it is a narrow band solution, making it
applicable only for pencil beam solutions.

40
Chapter 6

Future Work

After obtaining the results, as seen in Chapter 3, there is a slight disagreement in


the nature of the patterns when simulated in CST and HFSS. It would be interesting
to bridge the gap by either taking real time radiation pattern measurement of the
radome materials or by creating a denser mesh near the critical areas of the radome.
For the purpose of getting a much more real feel of the problem, it would be highly
beneficial to take radiation pattern measurement of the radome which was not
possible due to faults in the range. Depending on that, one could firstly view the
deviation between simulation and measurements. The different types of materials
involved and their calculated thicknesses should be cut into pieces so that they can
be de-embedded within the measurement horns as done previously. In that manner,
insertion loss and return loss can also be checked and extraction of permittivity in
the right manner can also be done. For the purpose of getting closer to the real
size of the constructed radome, after judging the measurement results, the closest
analyzing technique can be used to simulate the actual size of large radome with
suitable hardware. Besides, the array formed by Fabry Perot resonating elements
designed to obtain the 3dB can be further optimized and also tapering can be done in
order to obtain the desirable phase and amplitude. Materials such as “Rasorbers”
also can be investigated or the radome can be transformed into a lens antenna
like structure having different permittivities and thicknesses [8]. In conclusion, the
results obtained presently give a firm grounding for performing further investigations
and improvement.

41
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