Flared SIW antenna design and transceiving experiments for W-band SAR

In this article, the design of a small and light-weight antenna and transceiving experiments for W-band UAV-mounted synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is presented. The antenna requirements i.e. gain, beam width, and antenna dimension are determined from the parameters of the radar system under implementation in our lab. To meet the requirements, 24-by-4 SIW slot array antennas have been designed. The antenna design includes a waveguide-to-microstrip transition for connection to circuits and metal flares for gain enhancement. Transceiving experiments are carried out by integrating the designed antennas with a SAR system prototype. Corner reflectors having various radar cross sections (RCS) are used as radar targets. Additionally, experiments with standard horn antennas are also carried out for a comparison. From the results, the designed SIW slot array antennas gives acceptable performance while maintaining small and light-weight characteristics which are crucial for compact SAR.