Isis insights - Isis Innovation

On theRadarDr Rakesh Roshan reveals how newhigh performance antenna arraysdeveloped at the University ofOxford can be manufactured quicklyand affordably for use in radioastronomy, radars and tele andsatellite communication.Smooth walled feed hornantennasFeed horns are the part of thesatellite antenna that capture radiosignals from space and feed theminto the waveguide. A feed horn canbe as simple as a hollow,conical conducting cone, but willusually have a more sophisticateddesign in order to more efficientlycouple incoming radiation from agiven direction into a waveguide andthen to a detector. Feed horns areused on radio telescopes to receiveradiation from the primary dish andon communication satellites toreceive and transmit signals directlyto earth.Conventional feed horn antennassuch as corrugated horns aredifficult, time consuming andexpensive to manufacture in the mmand sub-mm range (~100GHz to1THz), due to the need tofabricate small sized, quarterwavelength (~100 - 400µm) deepcorrugations. The metal walls forcurrent horns also need to be thickenough to accommodate thesecorrugations. At lower frequencies(~ 5GHz - 100GHz), where deepercorrugations are needed, thisconstraint on wall thickness canmake the weight of these horns toolarge for key applications such asspace telescopes and communicationsystems.Isis Innovation: Information Invention 18 18