A compact monopulse radial line slot array antenna at millimeter wavelengths

This paper describes the design and performance of a radial line slot array antenna (RLSA) which generates sum or difference far field patterns. The antenna consists of rectangular waveguide to radial line transition, radial line and slot arrays etched on the upper plate of the radial line. A novel rectangular waveguide to radial line transition is designed to build up the dominate TEM mode in radial line to excite the slot arrays which are arranged in concentric rings on the upper plate of the radial line. The antenna radiates linear polarization at Ka band. Monopulse operation is obtained by a sum and difference network which is a compact eight-port comparator consisting of coplanar magic tees. The sum and difference network is waveguide structure whose loss is less than that of microstrip structure at millimeter wave lengths. The monopulse performances can be used in monopulse tracking and anti-collision application etc. Genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to optimize the parameters of the transition and antenna to obtain good performances.