A dielectric rod antenna array fed by slot antenna radiators without the use of metallic waveguide is presented here. Communication systems, especially those related to 5G, are moving up into mm-wave bands where metal losses can become significant and many traditional fabrication and manufacturing techniques become more difficult. Dielectric rod antennas (DRA) are entirely made of dielectric and may be injection-molded or 3D-printed as solid rods, layered rods, or tubes. While the normal approach to feeding DRAs involves some version of metallic waveguide, we show here that the DRA may be integrated with a planar radiator feed and used effectively in an array configuration. The array demonstrated is a 2 ×2 array designed for operation at 15 GHz. Each DRA is 6λ long. The array is fabricated on a 100 mm × 100 mm substrate with 52 mm separation between elements. The array radiation efficiency is 80% for an array gain of 19 dBi.

中文翻译：

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具有平面折叠缝隙天线激励的介质棒天线阵列


这里提出了一种由缝隙天线辐射器供电的介电棒天线阵列，而不使用金属波导。通信系统，尤其是与 5G 相关的系统，正在进入毫米波段，其中金属损耗可能变得很大，并且许多传统的制造和制造技术变得更加困难。电介质棒天线 (DRA) 完全由电介质制成，可以注塑或 3D 打印为实心棒、分层棒或管。虽然为 DRA 馈电的常规方法涉及某些版本的金属波导，但我们在此表明​​ DRA 可以与平面辐射器馈电集成，并在阵列配置中有效使用。演示的阵列是一个 2 ×2 阵列，专为在 15 GHz 频率下运行而设计。每个 DRA 的长度为 6λ。该阵列在 100 mm × 100 mm 的基板上制造，元件之间的间距为 52 mm。对于 19 dBi 的阵列增益，阵列辐射效率为 80%。