A high-gain Bull’s-Eye leaky-wave horn antenna
working at 77 GHz with sinusoidal profile has been designed,
fabricated, and experimentally measured. The influence of the
number of periods on the gain and beamwidth is numerically
investigated. Experimental measurements show a high gain of
28.9 dB, with low sidelobe level and a very narrow beamwidth in
good agreement with results obtained from simulations.
Reducing the profile, footprint and weight of antennas embarked on aircrafts, drones or satellites has been a long pursued objective. Here we tackle this issue by developing a millimeter-wave 96 GHz elliptical Bull’s-Eye antenna with off-axis radiation at 16.5° that has been fabricated by low cost 3-D printing stereolithography, followed by metal coating. The theoretical basis for optimum off-axis operations is explained. Measurement results show an overall good agreement with simulations, displaying a gain of 17 dB and a 3.5° beamwidth (E-plane) at the operational frequency. The off-axis beaming enlarges the potential applicability of this technology with respect to the broadside beam solution.