Characterization of a Dual-Polarized Connected-Dipole Array for Ku-Band Mobile Terminals

In this paper, we present the characterization of a Ku-band connected-dipole array for mobile Satcom application. The prototype array consists of 2 x 256 dipole radiators arranged in a square grid, to form 16 x 16 dual-polarized cells. It has been designed to operate over a wideband ranging from 10.7 to 14.5 GHz (30%), accommodating in a single antenna both the transmit (14.0 to 14.5 GHz) and the receive (10.70 to 12.75 GHz) bands for the application. The array has been characterized in terms of active reflection (AR) and radiation patterns. Dedicated test support equipment (TSE) has been developed and used to test the array radiation characteristics. Over the frequency range of operation, the array maintains good matching (ensuring system gain to noise temperature better than 8 dB/K) and good radiation performance while scanning as far as 60 degrees in all the azimuth planes. The cross-polarization suppression is better than 15 dB within most of the scan range and reaches 10 dB for the extreme scan angles in the diagonal plane.