Lists
Lists
Alibakhshikenari, Mohammad, Virdee, Bal Singh, Qasaymeh, Yazeed Mohammad, Zidour, Ali, Chaudhary, Muhammad Akmal, See, Chan Hwang, Livreri, Patrizia, Abbasi, Nisar Ahmad, Othman, Mohamadariff, Saber, Takfarinas and Limiti, Ernesto (2026) Broad-band Nolen beamforming matrix inspired by groove gap waveguide technology for multi-beam antenna arrays in mmWave satellite-oriented space multiplexing systems. IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society. pp. 1-17. ISSN ISSN: 2644-125X
This work presents the design and experimental validation of an integrated single-layer 4×4 Nolen beamforming matrix (NBM) implemented in groove gap waveguide (GGW) technology as an enabling front-end for multi-beam satellite gateway systems. The matrix is designed for operation within the 30–40 GHz upper Ka-band region, with optimal impedance matching and beamforming performance centered around 38 GHz, offering low-loss planar routing suitable for compact mmWave front-end architectures. The network combines broadband H-plane directional couplers (3.04, 4.77, and 6.0 dB) with fundamental and delay-compensation phase shifters to equalize amplitudes and maintain progressive phase. A WR-28-compatible input-feeding transition enables practical interfacing without disturbing the internal phase states, and a linear 4×4 slot-array antenna is integrated to demonstrate wide-angle multi-beam radiation. In contrast to prior Nolen matrices, including recent GGW implementations, this work introduces a fully single-layer GGW realization with parallel routing and built-in delay compensation, achieving phase error within (±10°), near-equalized amplitudes, and simplified fabrication within a compact footprint. In particular, compared to the recent GGW-based Nolen matrices, which employ the multilayer configurations and report only simulation results, the proposed work demonstrates the first experimentally validated single-layer GGW Nolen matrix with integrated feeding transition and radiating array. Measurements confirm return loss better than −15 dB, port-to-port isolation exceeding 15 dB, amplitude imbalance within ±1.2 dB (around 6 dB nominal output), and phase error within ±10° with stable phase progression around 38 GHz.
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
Download (2MB) | Preview
 |
View Item |