doi: 10.3850/978-981-11-0749-8_701


Additive Manufacturing of Ka-band Antennas for Wireless Communications

U. Armendariz1, S. Rommel1, S. Rodriguez1, I. T. Monroy1, J. J. Vegas Olmos1 and C. B. Olsen2
1Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, Denmark


Abstract

This paper presents the design and fabrication of WR-28 waveguide horn antennas operating in the Ka-band frequency range between 26.5 GHz and 40 GHz through 3D printing. Three different antennas are fabricated from polylactide acid filaments in conductive and non-conductive variants; the latter is covered with conductive paint. The gain and voltage standing wave ratio performance of the fabricated horn antennas is measured in a vector network analyzer, showing promising performance. Antenna gain values between 5 dBi and 14 dBi are found, comparable to the performance of metal milled horn antennas


Keywords: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing, Millimeterwave communications, Antenna.





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