CAD of waveguide array antennas based on "Filter" concepts

In this paper, an alternative approach for the design of open-ended waveguide array antennas is presented. The approach is based on microwave filter concepts. The exploitation of this alternative viewpoint has been made possible by the availability of a very efficient computer-aided design (CAD) tool which is based on a full-wave modal analysis technique. In this paper, we first outline the technique for the efficient analysis of open-ended waveguide array antennas. Using the software developed and following the alternative design approach, two different application examples are then shown, indicating how the alternative viewpoint introduced gives indeed significant additional degrees of freedom.