60-GHz Groove Gap Waveguide Based Wideband H-Plane Power Dividers and Transitions: For Use in High-Gain Slot Array Antenna

Wideband design of power dividers, T-junctions, and transitions based on groove gap waveguide (GGW) technology is presented in this paper with the goal to use these components in high-gain millimeter-wave antenna array design at 60-GHz frequency range. Since this GGW technology does not require electrical contact between the different metal layers of a complex 3-D waveguide structure, the fabrication cost and mechanical complexity are decreased. The designed T-junctions and different power dividers exhibit wide operational bandwidth and low output power and phase imbalance over the 60-GHz frequency band. Also, two transitions from GGW to a standard rectangular waveguide have been designed. To validate the performance of the designed components, a 64-way power divider in combination with 256 radiating slots is designed, prototyped, and measured at 60-GHz band. Measurement results agree well with the simulated performance of the complete array antenna, and the antenna gain is more than 32.5 dBi. The total radiation efficiency is more than 80% over the operating frequency range from 57 to 67 GHz. Also, the measured sidelobe levels are found to be agreeing well with the simulated level.