本文提出了一种具有超高孔径效率的宽带连续横向枝节（continuous transverse stub,CTS）平板阵列天线。该天线由包含天线辐射枝节与功分馈电网络的三层金属板构成。辐射枝节部分采用多级串联结构,以改善辐射端口的宽带阻抗匹配性能。功分馈电网络由单脊波导平面功率分配器层和空腔层一起构成,替代了传统的Pillbox药盒耦合器,显著降低了馈电网络的剖面高度。同时,输出端口产生的等幅同相电磁波还提高了天线的孔径效率与增益。对研制的天线原型样机进行了实物加工与辐射性能测试,仿测结果具有良好的一致性。测试结果表明：在9.6-15.7 GHz频段内天线反射系数|S11|小于-10 dB,相对频率带宽为48.2%。在应用重点关注的10-14 GHz工作频带内,天线测试的增益为25.24-28.16 dBi,实现了超过88%的超高孔径效率。
A wideband planar Continuous Transverse Stub (CTS) array antenna with ultra-high aperture efficiency is presented in this paper. It consists of three metal layers including radiation slots and power divider feed network. Multiple-section stepped-impedance transformers are used for wideband impedance matching of the radiation slots. The power divider feed network is composed of a single-ridge waveguide planar power divider layer and a cavity layer, which replaces the conventional pillbox coupler, significantly reducing the profile of the feed network. The aperture efficiency and gain are enhanced by the equal amplitude and in-phase output in all ports. An antenna prototype is fabricated and the radiation performance is measured. Excellent agreement is achieved between the results of simulation and measurement. Measured results indicate that the reflection coefficient |S11| is less than -10 dB over the band of 9.6-15.7 GHz, and the fractional bandwidth is 48.2%. Within the operating frequency band of 10-14 GHz that the application mainly focuses on, the measured gain of the prototype is 25.24-28.16 dBi and an ultra-high aperture efficiency of over 88% is achieved.
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