Gain Enhancement of a Traditional Horn Antenna using 3D Printed Square-Shaped Multi-layer Dielectric Lens for X-band Applications

Authors

  • Aysu Belen Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Technology, Iskenderun Vocational School of Higher Education Iskenderun Technical University, Hatay, TURKEY
  • Peyman Mahouti Department of Electronic and Automation, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Istanbul/TURKEY
  • Filiz Güneş Department of Electronics and Communication, University of Yıldız Technical, İstanbul, TURKEY
  • Özlem Tari Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Istanbul Arel University, Büyükçekmece, Istanbul-TURKEY

Keywords:

3D printer, dielectric lens, fused deposition modeling, gain enhancement

Abstract

In this work, gain of a traditional horn antenna is enhanced up to 2.9 dB over X-band using 3D printed square-shaped multi-layer lens. For this purpose, firstly the multi-layer lenses are designed using Invasive Weed Optimization (IWO) and simulated in 3-D CST Microwave Studio (MWS) environment as consisting of square-shaped five layers with variable dielectric constants and heights. Thus, optimum values of the dielectric constants and heights are resulted limiting from 1.15 to 2.1 and 9.2 mm to 10 mm, respectively compatible for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) based 3D-printing process. Finally, the optimum lens is realized by 3D printer via FDM evaluating infill rate of cheap Polylactic Acid (PLA) material for each layer. The simulated and measured performance of the multi-layer dielectric structures are hand to hand. The horn antenna equipped by our proposed dielectric lens achieves gain enhancement of the traditional antenna up to 2.9 dB over the operation band. Furthermore, the proposed design is compared with the counterpart designs in literature and based on the comparison results it can be said that the proposed design achieves the better performance in the smaller in size as equipped a traditional X-band horn antenna.

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Author Biographies

Aysu Belen, Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Technology, Iskenderun Vocational School of Higher Education Iskenderun Technical University, Hatay, TURKEY

Aysu Belen received her Ph.D. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Yıldız Technical University in 2021. Currently, she is a Lecturer in İskenderun Technical University. Her main research areas are optimization of microwave circuits, circuits, device modeling, and computer aided circuit design and microwave amplifiers.

Peyman Mahouti, Department of Electronic and Automation, Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Istanbul/TURKEY

Peyman Mahouti received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Yıldız Technical University, Turkey, in 2013 and 2016, respectively. He is currently an Associated Professor with the Department of Electronic and Communication, Istanbul University - Cerrahpasa, Turkey. The main research areas are analytical and numerical modelling of microwave devices, optimization techniques for microwave stages, and application of artificial intelligence-based algorithms. His research interests include analytical and numerical modelling of microwave and antenna structures, surrogate-based optimization, and application of artificial intelligence algorithms.

Filiz Güneş, Department of Electronics and Communication, University of Yıldız Technical, İstanbul, TURKEY

Filiz Güneş received her M.Sc. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Istanbul Technical University. She attained her Ph.D. degree in Communication Engineering from the Bradford University in 1979. Her current research interests are in the areas of multivariable network theory, device modeling, computer-aided microwave circuit design, monolithic microwave integrated circuits, and antenna designs.

Özlem Tari, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Istanbul Arel University, Büyükçekmece, Istanbul-TURKEY

Özlem Tarireceived her B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics Engineering from the Istanbul Technical University (ITU). She was the recipient of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Research Fellowship award before accepting her position at Istanbul Arel University in 2010. Her research areas are the phase transitions and phase diagram of some physical systems, Multi-Objective Optimization problems and development of MetaHeuristic Optimization Algorithms.

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Published

2021-02-01

How to Cite

[1]
Aysu Belen, Peyman Mahouti, Filiz Güneş, and Özlem Tari, “Gain Enhancement of a Traditional Horn Antenna using 3D Printed Square-Shaped Multi-layer Dielectric Lens for X-band Applications”, ACES Journal, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 132–138, Feb. 2021.

Issue

2021: Vol 36 Iss 2

Section

Articles