Programa del congreso

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) heavily rely on radar technology, particularly within the 76-81 GHz band, for precise obstacle detection and enhanced road safety. This paper introduces a novel metal-only antenna designed using gap waveguide technology. The antenna, featuring a scalable 1×8 slotted array fed through groove gap waveguide technology, offers multi-channel and multibeam operation, making it adaptable to various traffic scenarios.

Key features of the antenna include low transmission losses and robust obstacle detection capabilities within the 76-81 GHz band, crucial for ADAS applications. Its metal-only construction allows for integration into vehicle chassis, optimizing performance within automotive frequency bands.

Validation through simulations using CST Microwave Studio confirms the behavior and performance of the antenna. Results suggest potential as a candidate for antennas capable of multibeam performance in the E-band, underscoring its suitability for radar-based ADAS applications.

This work introduces a metal-only slot array built upon groove gap waveguide technology. This metal-only design facilitates seamless integration into vehicle chassis and ensures minimal losses within the automotive frequency bands. The fully integrated feeding network, featuring a -3dB power splitter, offers the flexibility of multi-port feeding. This adaptability has proven particularly valuable in achieving beam scanning, as changing the feeding port enables this capability. Furthermore, the multiport configuration has the potential to support multiple input/output channels, enhancing the extraction of additional angular information for a wide range of applications.

This paper presents a fully metallic radiating element that produces dual circular polarization over a wide bandwidth. A quasi-square waveguide section with a pair of corrugated walls is used, which converts ±45º linear polarization into dual circular polarization. The inclusion of periodic corrugations slows the propagation of one of the fundamental modes, leading to a phase difference exhibiting parabolic behavior. This significantly broadens the range in which a pure circular polarization of less than 1 dB of axial ratio can be attained. The behavior of the semi-corrugated waveguide is studied, and its dimensions are analyzed as a function of the bandwidth and required length. Two versions of the element with different heights and bandwidths are designed. The proposed fully metallic radiating element has small dimensions, which allow for integration into an array with low profile, while its versatile design enables the attainment of large bandwidths with pure dual circular polarization.

En este trabajo se propone un análisis de distintos métodos para la obtención de las propiedades dieléctricas de materiales de impresión 3D. En el diseño de dispositivos de microondas fabricados mediante impresión 3D, es esencial conocer con precisión las propiedades dieléctricas de los materiales empleados. Este trabajo compara tres métodos aplicados en materiales dispersivos (TW-CON175BK) y no dispersivos (PLA, ABS, Preperm-dk3, Preperm-dk10), para identificar las técnicas que obtienen las características de cada material de forma precisa. Las muestras se fabrican con la anchura y altura de las guías de onda estandarizadas WR-90 y WR-137. La longitud de las muestras depende de las propiedades de absorción del material, siendo TW-CON175BK el único cuya longitud es más corta respecto a las secciones de 51 mm empleadas en el resto de materiales. Se mide la respuesta de los parámetros [S] para cada material, y se aplican los métodos, proporcionando resultados favorables para materiales no dispersivos, y ajustando correctamente las características del material dispersivo únicamente con dos de estos métodos.

In this contribution a water drop Luneburg lens is presented. These types of antennas are very interesting in contexts such as mobile communications. With the rise of 5G, especially in the millimeter band, new radiant systems are necessary to solve the problems involved. With the increase in frequency and, therefore, propagation losses, high gain and efficiency antennas are needed. This is why devices such as geodesic lenses are a very attractive solution since they eliminate dielectric losses and can present a high gain. Additionally, their multiport and angular scanning capabilities make them highly desirable for MIMO system implementation. Additionally, thanks to advances in the development of additive manufacturing technologies, this type of geodesic lenses can have their manufacturing process greatly simplified. Light devices can be obtained at very low cost and granting great performance.

Additive Manufacturing Laser Powder-Bed Fusion (AM LPBF) technique is evaluated to manufacture monolithic antennas in metal, simplifying the conventional procedure based on, first, manufacturing a dielectric skeleton, and then, applying a coating process to obtain the desire microwave component. To validate the technique, a difference pattern array of 4×4 horn antennas is designed to operate at mm-wave frequencies. The antenna is based on a complex structure to obtain a difference radiation pattern by rotating twisted section in two different orientations. The prototype is manufactured in a monolithic piece of aluminum alloy AlSi10Mg, providing a single structure that includes both radiating elements and feeding network, including twisters and power dividers in waveguide. The prototype is evaluated in anechoic chamber and planar near-field scanner, obtaining a good agreement with full-wave simulations within the operational bandwidth (34 to 36 GHz). The experimental validation demonstrates that the technique LPBF is a suitable candidate to produce monolithic metal-only microwave components in the Ka band.