A Low-Cost All-Metal Ka-Band Antenna Using Sheet Metal Machining

An all-metal antenna operating at Ka-band is proposed for beamforming array applications. The antenna is fabricated using sheet metal machining technology, rendering the element low-cost and easy to realize. The compact and miniaturised Ka band element of dimensions <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$0.30 \times 0.44 \times 0.06 \lambda_{0}^{3}$</tex> exhibits gain of 8.9 dB at 0° in elevation at 26.5 GHz, with a −10 dB impedance bandwidth of 3.8 %. An <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$8 \times 8$</tex> array of the element proposed has been simulated. The measured results for the array were computed by pattern multiplication of the element pattern with the array factor.