The Characteristics of Iris-Fed Millimeter-Wave Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antennas

The fabrication of various iris-fed millimeter-wave rectangular microstrip patch antennas is described. A mathematical model is proposed to describe the iris-fed antenna. An iris having 15 percent of the area of the patch is used to couple energy into the antenna. Resonance of the antenna is observed to be insensitive to the size of the iris for irises up to 115 percent of the size of the patch. A study is also made of the coupling to the antenna as a function of position of the iris with respect to the transverse plane of the waveguide, the iris always being centered with respect to the patch. In general, the antenna has a VSWR in the waveguide feed of roughly 5:1 at resonance, except for the fully open waveguide which gives rise to a VSWR of 2.9:1 at resonance. Far-field antenna power patterns are observed to be quite broad with H-plane beamwidths about 130°. Maximum antenna gain observed was 4.5 dB relative to an isotropic source (dBi), with 2 dBi typical. An initial study is made of the microstrip patch antenna fed from a longitudinal waveguide wall. Results indicate that this feed structure is likely to prove valuable for microstrip patch antennas, with coupling at least as good as for the transverse-fed patch, added to the possibility of feeding multiple patches from a single waveguide.