A Simple Low-Cost Shared-Aperture Dual-Band Dual-Polarized High Gain Antenna for Synthetic Aperture Radars

This paper presents a novel shared-aperture dual-band dual-polarized high-gain antenna for potential applications in synthetic aperture radars (SAR). To reduce the complexity of SAR antennas, a dual-band dual-polarized high gain antenna based on the concept of Fabry-Perot resonant cavity is designed. This antenna operates in both C and X bands with a frequency ratio of 1:1.8. To form two separate resonant cavities, two frequency selective surface (FSS) layers are employed, leading to high flexibility in choosing desired frequencies for each band. The beam scanning capability of this proposed antenna is also investigated, where a beam scanning angle range of ±15o is achieved in two orthogonal polarizations. To verify this design concept, three passive antenna prototypes were designed, fabricated and measured. One prototype has broadside radiation patterns whilst the other two prototypes have frozen beam scanned to +15o. The measured results agree well with the simulated ones, showing that high gain, high port isolation, and low cross cross-polarization levels are obtained in both bands. Compared to the conventional high gain dual-band dual-polarized SAR antennas, the proposed antenna has achieved a significant reduction in the complexity, mass, size, loss and cost of the feed network.