3-D Printed Antenna Subsystem with Dual-Polarization and its Test in System Level for Radiometer Applications

A 3-D printed antenna subsystem, which proves its effectiveness in cost- weight-reduction and reliability improvement over conventional CNC fabrication, is proposed in this paper. The proposed structure which integrates an orthogonal-mode transducer (OMT) and a corrugated horn is fully compatible to fabrication using high temperature resistant resin Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) with 3-D printing technology, as well as coating using copper with electroless metallization method. Detailed design procedures are provided and a prototype operating at X-band is designed, fabricated and measured. Over the whole operating frequency range of 11.7 GHz12.7 GHz, measured reflection coefficients are better than -22 dB and -12 dB for different polarization directions. A very good isolation better than 60 dB is achieved between two input ports. The cross polarization level is at least 30 dB lower than the co-polarization. Moreover, the effectiveness of the fabricated antenna is also verified in a polarimetric radiometer system. © 2013 IEEE.