Antenna Designer 's Notebook Founded by Hal Schrank

Tom Milligan
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Antenna Designer's Notebook
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E-mail: TMilligan@ieee.org
Design of Broadband Constant-Beamwidth
Conical Corrugated-Horn Antennas
Majid Abbas-Azimi, Farhad Mazlumi, and Fereidoon Behnia
Electrical and Computer Engineering School, Faculty of Engineering
No. 49, North Kargar Ave, Tehran, Iran
Tel : +9821 61114940; Fax: +98 21 82094214; E-mail : m.azimi@ece.ut.ac.ir
Abstract
In this paper, a new design procedure is proposed for the design of wideband constant-beamwidth conical corrugated-horn
antennas, with minimum design and construction complexity. The inputs to the procedure are the operating frequency band,
the required minimum beamwidth in the entire frequency band, and the frequency in which the maximum gain is desired to
occur. Based on these values, the procedure gives a relatively good design with a relative bandwidth of up to 2.5:1. Based on
the proposed procedure, a corrugated-horn antenna with a constant beamwidth over the frequencies of 8 to 18 GHz was
designed and simulated using commercial software. The designed antenna was also constructed, and its electromagnetic
performance was measured. The measured results of the constructed prototype antenna confirmed the simulation results and
satisfied the design requirements, validating the proposed design procedure.
Keywords: Corrugated horn antennas; shaped beam antennas; antenna radiation patterns
1. Introduction
C
orrugated horns have wide application in communications,
radio astronomy, satellite tracking, radar, and remote sensing.
They are used as improved feeds for reflector antennas [1-3], and
also as direct radiators for wideband measurements [4]. Corrugated
horns can produce radiation patterns having extremely good axial
symmetry, relatively constant beamwidths as a function of fre-
quency, high beam efficiency, low cross-polarization levels, very
low sidelobes and back lobes, good return loss, and relatively-the-
same phase centers in all cut planes containing the antenna's bore-
sight [1-6]. These outstanding features come from the fact that they
support the so-called hybrid mode, HEl l' The corrugated surface
inside the antenna produces equal boundary conditions for all
polarizations, and tapers the field distribution in the E and H planes
in the aperture. This leads to a hybrid mixture of TEll and TM
l l
IEEEAntennas andPropagation Magazine, Vol. 51, No.5, October 2009
modes that behaves as a single mode, in which both components
propagate with the same velocity [6].
Different design approaches for wideband corrugated horns
have been adopted in the literature [1-12]. In most of the designs,
such as those proposed in [1-3, 9-12], a linear corrugation profile
with slot depths greater than a quarter of a wavelength at the low
end of the frequency band and less than a half wavelength at the
high end was used to obtain a maximum relative bandwidth of2:1.
Kerr designed a similar structure with a relatively constant beam-
width of about 30 to 45 within a relative bandwidth of2.1:1 [13].
To increase the frequency bandwidth of corrugated horns,
more-complex designs have also been suggested in the literature.
Examples of these designs are tapered slotted corrugations with a
claimed maximum bandwidth of3:1 [14], a ring-loaded mode con-
verter with a maximum bandwidth of 2.4:1 [1, 2, 5], and a vari-
109
able-pitch-to-width-slot mode converter with a maximum band-
width of 2.05:1 [5]. In [15], a procedure was presented for the
mode-launching region of corrugated horns, in order to obtain
wideband low-return-Ioss single-mode operation over a fractional
bandwidth of 50%. Recently, great efforts have been carried out on
profiled corrugated horns [16-22]. All the wideband designs men-
tioned above were rather complicated, and had time-consuming
design procedures. Furthermore, their mechanical complexities, the
required accuracy of their construction, and their high cost are
other significant concerns.
This paper presents a design procedure for wideband corru-
gated-horn antennas with a maximum bandwidth of about 2.5:1.
The proposed design procedure leads to antennas with less
mechanical complexities compared to their counterparts. This
antenna can be even constructed by a two-axis milling machine.
a good initial design, which then can be opti -
mized with available powerful software for obtaining better
antenna performance.
The structure of the paper is organized as follows . First, the
principles of corrugated-horn antennas are reviewed. A design pro-
cedure is then proposed for the design of corrugated horns. To
validate the design procedure, a corrugated-horn antenna is
designed based on the proposed design procedure. The designed
antenna is simulated using Ansoft HFSS [23] and CST Microwave
Studio [24]. Finally, the measured results of the designed antenna
are presented.
A very gradual change from a slot depth of AI2 to A/4
from the throat toward the aperture can avoid the exci-
tation of the EH
l t
mode.
Although the principle of operat ion is based on AI4
deep slots, the surface impedance changes slowly with
frequency, so the outstanding features of this antenna
can be maintained over a relatively wide frequency
band.
Corrugated-horn antennas generally are composed of four
major parts (Figure 1): the aperture, the corrugation profile, the
mode converter, and the input waveguide. The aperture diameter
and the flare angle have a significant role in determining the
beamwidth and directivity of the antenna for wideband use. The
specifications of corrugations have effects on the satisfaction of the
balanced hybrid-mode condition. The mode converter lies between
the body of the corrugated horn and the circular smooth-walled
input waveguide, the fundamental mode of which is the TEll
mode. A good design for the mode converter guarantees a smooth
transition from the TEll to the HEll mode supported by the
corrugated horn, and, hence, obtaining better impedance matching
at the antenna's input.
3. Design Procedure
Figure 1. The different parts of a typical corrugated-horn
antenna.
In this section, a procedure is proposed for designing a wide-
band wide-flare-angle corrugated-horn antenna with constant
beamwidth over a maximum bandwidth of 2.5:1 (i.e.,
fmaxl fmin =2.5 , where fmin and fmax are respectively the mini-
mum and the maximum limits of the desired frequency band) .
Since corrugations perpendicular to the wall of the horn are often
proposed in the literature for wideband use [1, 2], the design pro-
cedure is based on the antenna structure shown in Figure 2. With
respect to Figure 2 and assuming that all the angles are in degrees ,
the optimum values of the antenna's parameters are calculated
according to the procedure described below.
2. Corrugated Horn Principles
. A nearly linear aperture electric field is the requirement for
producing a symmetrical main beam with a low cross-polarization
level in the horns [2]. The corrugations in a waveguide or an
antenna produce a nearly linear aperture electric field of a hybrid
mode, which cannot be produced by waveguides support ing only
pure TE or only pure TM modes. The corrugated wall can generate
a condition in which both the impedance and admittance at the sur-
face of the corrugations become zero. This boundary condition can
support the propagation of the so-called balanced hybrid mode,
HEll'
To obtain good performance from the corrugations, the fol-
lowing tips should be considered [I, 2, 5, 6, 11]:
There should be enough corrugations per wavelength
( A) to have zero tangential transverse electric field at
the surface of the corrugations.
The corrugations ought to be narrow and AI4 deep
(more than AI4 deep for annular corrugations). The
corrugations act as transmission lines that transform a
short circuit at the end of the slots into an open circuit
at the corrugation's boundary, causing a relatively zero
tangential transverse magnetic field at this boundary.
Slot depths less than A/4 generate positive (inductive)
reactance and result in the propagation of the EH((
mode, which is a surface-wave mode. This mode has a
concentration of power around the radius of the corru-
gations, and causes high levels of cross polari zation.
Feed
Section
Input
Waveguide
Mode
Converter
Aperture
110 IEEEAntennas andPropagation Magazine, Vol. 51, No.5, October 2009
mum directivity occurs. The corresponding maximum directivity,
D, is approximately calculated (in dBi) as
The widths of the slots and teeth ( wi and t
i
, respectively) are
calculated according to the condition O. 7 s 0.9 , and such
w+t
that there are at least four corrugations per A
e
along the slant
radius. For simplicity, suppose that "i =w2 =...=w
n
=wand
tl =t2 =... =t
n
=t . The values of wand t are chosen according to
these two conditions . Considering these criteria, the widths of the
slots and the teeth can be calculated as
-,
\
\
II '?\
II, I \
I I \
......-__----,.0(/\7 i I I
: 110 / I J
..! .. R__!..-_-L _
Axis I i i
f- - - - -I.- - - - . :.. -L\-j
Figure 2. The parameters of a typical corrugated-horn
antenna.
(
250J
D ""2010g
lO
e; .
Ac
"i =w2 =... =w
n
=W =- ,
4.8
(5)
(6)
The procedure needs to define a center frequency the associ-
ated wavelength of which scales the antenna's dimensions. The
center frequency, Ie' should be closer to the low end of the fre-
quency band, since the balanced-hybrid-mode condition fails more
rapidly at the lower frequencies [II]. A proper value of Ie is
calculated in terms of Imin as follows:
To obtain a good return loss (especially at the beginning of the fre-
quency band), the depths of the first slots (i.e., d. , i =1,2,3) are
calculated according to [5]
I e"" 1.2lmin (I )
d . = K Ac
I 4 '
(7)
(8)
The radius of the input waveguide, o- should be such that Imin is
spaced out far enough from the cutoff frequency of the TEll
mode. A suitable suggestion is [5]
where
[
(
J
-1. 134]
K =exp 0.473 2;:i . (9)
(2)
The depths of the other slots are equal to the depth of the third slot,
i.e., d
3
=d
4
=... =d
n
.
where A
e
is the wavelength associated with the center frequency
introduced in Equation (I).
In a wide-flare-angle corrugated horn, there are approxi-
mately linear relationships among the beamwidths for the -3 dB,
-lOdB, and -20dB pattern levels and the semi-flare angle [6].
The semi-flare angle, 8
0
, is hence calculated in terms of the
desired beamwidth as follows:
In order to have better control over the VSWR, especially at
the lower frequencies, a smooth-walled hom after the input
waveguide and before the corrugations should be chosen. It is bet-
ter if the length of this part, to, is at least equal to the width of the
corrugations, w.
The aperture radius, a, is calculated such that the horn's directivity
is maximized at a desired frequency. According to references [1,
2], the maximum directivity is obtained if
where Am is the wavelength of the frequency at which the maxi-
IS7A
m
a""--
28
0
'
BW , if BW is - 3 dB beamwidth
0.7
BW , if BW is -10 dB beamwidth .
1.5
BW , ifBW is - 20 dB beamwidth
2.3
(3)
(4)
4. A Design Example
Suppose a corrugated horn is to be designed having a con-
stant half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of25 in the 45 slant plane,
and a VSWR less than two, over a frequency band of 8 to 18 GHz.
Assuming that the maximum gain is to be reached at the highest
frequency, the optimum dimensions of the horn antenna are
obtained by using the design procedure as follows: ao = 14.92mm,
8
0
=35, a =37.5 mm, w =6.5mm, and t =1.3mm. According to
Equation (5), D "" 17dBi.
The corrugated-horn antenna with the dimensions calculated
above was modeled in both CST Microwave Studio Version 5.1
and HFSS Version 10. In the simulations, the antenna was fed by a
pure TEll mode at the input waveguide. To feed the designed
corrugated horn with a coaxial input, the hom antenna was com-
IEEEAntennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 51, No.5, October 2009 111
o...----- - --,-- - ---;;,............;;:-- - -,-- - ---,
,.......,

.g-1O

0..
E
<: -20
"0
Q)
-- -Simulation
- Measurement
-50 0 50
Angle off boresight (degrees)
Figure 8. The simulated and measured normalized 45 slant-
plane radiation patterns of the corrugated antenna at 8 GHz.
Figure 3. The constructed conical corrugated-horn antenna,
fed by a coaxial-to-circular-waveguide adaptor.

-- -Simulation
- Measurement
-50 0 50
Angle off boresight (degrees)
<a /
-40 ,/
o '
Z
00
,.......,

';;' -10
"0
B

Corrugated-hom antennas can be constructed with different

methods, such as classical milling, electroforming, and rapid pro-
totyping [1, 10, 12]. Classical milling was used to construct the
whole antenna (Figure 3). The electromagnetic characteristics of
this antenna were measured, and are presented in Figures 4-10. In
these figures, the measured results are accompanied by the simula-
tion results. A comparison between the measured results and those
obtained from the simulations showed good agreement, validating
the simulations of the designed antenna.
bined with a coaxial-to-circular waveguide adaptor [25]. The total
structure, including the adaptor and the hom, was then simulated
again.
The measured VSWR (Figure 4) showed a little rise at
10 GHz in comparison to the simulation results, which might have
been due to the coaxial-to-waveguide transition assembly. The
effect of this matter can be seen as a decrease in gain (Figure 5) at
the same frequency. Figure 5 shows that the measured-gain curve
increased, and the maximum gain was close to 17 dBi, as was
expected in the design.
Figure 9. The simulated and measured normalized 45 slant-
plane radiation patterns of the corrugated antenna at 12 GHz.

40
---Simulation
- Measurement
,.......,
-5
C)
"'0
-10
0..
-15 I
"0 /
-20

-25
o
Z

-20 0 20
Angle off borcsight (degrees)
Figure 10. The simulated and measured normalized 45 slant-
plane radiation patterns of the corrugated antenna at 18 GHz.
The HPBW as a function of frequency of the antenna in the
45 slant plane is depicted in Figure 6. As shown in this figure, the
minimum of the measured HPBW was about 24.5, which was
very close to what was expected in the design. Also, the HPBW
variations were less than 12 over the entire bandwidth. To explore
the pattern's symmetry over the bandwidth, the antenna HPBWs in
the E and H planes are plotted in Figure 7. This figure showed that
the HPBWs in the E and H planes were not equal at frequencies
greater than 14 GHz, and had a maximum difference of 12. This
implied that the radiation patterns were not completely symmetri-
cal at frequencies greater than 14 GHz.
The normalized radiation patterns of the antenna in the 45
slant plane at 8, 12, and 18 GHz from the CST simulations and the
measurements are presented in Figures 8-10. At frequencies higher
than 15 GHz, the effect of the asymmetrical feed section with the
coaxial line could be seen as an asymmetry in the radiation pattern,
such as in Figure 10. The measured sidelobe levels were better
than nearly 25 dB.
112 IEEEAntennasand Propagation Magazine, Vol. 51, No.5, October 2009
18 16 12 14
Frequency (GHz)
10
"-HFSS
.. ..CST
............ .....
--Measurement
...............

.... :
.............. ...... .
.............
...
.-..

F"'" .....
.................
.......................
8
10
60
50
16
---HFSS
..CST
............... ............... - Measurement
12 14
Frequency (GHz)
2
1.8 .....

1.6
r/.l
:>
1.4
1.2
1
8
Figure 4. The simulated and measured VSWR of the corru-
gated-horn antenna accompanied by the coaxial-to-circular-
waveguide adaptor.
Figure 6. The simulated and measured half-power beamwidth
of the corrugated-horn antenna accompanied by the feed sec-
tion, in the 45 slant plane.
20,--- - -,.-- - - ...--- - --.-- - - .,--- - -.,
18 16
...
"He'" --.- - ...... . .i.
12 14
Frequency (GHz)
--
10
10
8
60 ,--- - .....-- - ----r- - ----;;== = = = = ===;t
"-Simulated E-plane
--Measured E-plane
50 , ..I -+-Simulated H-plane
'gl - Measured H- lane

oS
'0
30
S
<':l
Q)
(!l 20 .
18 16
.......! .
10
18
Figure 5. The simulated and measured gain of the corrugated-
horn antenna accompanied by the coaxial-to-circular-
waveguide adaptor.
Figure 7. A comparison of the half-power beamwidths in the E
and H planes (obtained from HFSS and measurements).
IEEEAntennasand Propagation Magazine, Vol. 51, No.5, October 2009 113
5. Conclusions
A design procedure has been introduced for the design of
wideband wide-flare-angle corrugated-hom antennas with rela-
tively constant beamwidth. The procedure is straightforward, and
determines the physical dimensions of a corrugated hom with a
linear profile and simple corrugations.
To examine the accuracy of this design procedure, an exam-
ple antenna was designed over 8 to 18 GHz with specific electro-
magnetic features. The designed antenna was easily constructed
using a milling method. The electromagnetic performance of the
antenna was then measured. The measurement results showed that
the antenna's VSWR was less than 1.85 over the entire bandwidth.
The antenna's gain increased from 12.5 dB to 16 dB. The
antenna's beamwidth also had a minimum beamwidth of 24.5 in
the 45 slant plane, and maximum variations of about 12. These
measurement results confirmed the results of the simulations and
satisfied the design requirements.
6. References
1. P. J. B. Clarricoats and A. D. Olver, Corrugated Horns for
Microwave Antennas, London, IEE, 1984.
2. A. D. Olver, P. 1. B. Clarricoats, A. A. Kishk, and L. Shafai,
Microwave Horns and Feeds, London, lEE, 1994, Chapter 9.
3. A. W. Love, Electromagnetic Horn Antennas, New York, IEEE
Press, 1976.
4. T. Chu and W. E. Legg, "Gain of Corrugated Conical Horns,"
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-30, July
1982, pp. 698-703.
5. C. Granet and G. L. James, "Design of Corrugated Horns: A
Primer," IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, 47, April
2005, pp. 76-84.
6. T. A. Milligan, Modern Antenna Design, Second Edition, New
Jersey, IEEE Press/John Wiley, 2005, Chapter 7.
7. C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, Third
Edition, New York, John Wiley, 2005, Chapter 13.
8. R. E. Collin, Antennas and Radiowave Propagation, Singapore,
McGraw Hill, 1985, Chapter 4.
9. S. K. Buchmeyer, "Corrugations Lock Horns with Poor Beam-
shapes," Microwaves, January 1973, pp. 44-49.
10. A. D. Olver, "Corrugated Horns," Journal of Electronics and
Communication Engineering, 4, February 1992, pp. 4-10.
11. B. M. Thomas, "Design of Corrugated Conical Horns," IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-26, March 1978,
pp.367-372.
12. Y. Beniguel, A. Berthon, C. V. Klooster and L. Costes,
"Design Realization and Measurement of a High Performance
Wide-Band Corrugated Hom," IEEE Transactions on Antennas
and Propagation, AP-53, November 2005, pp. 3540-3546.
114
13. 1. L. Kerr and M. J. Timochko, Broadband Corrugated Horn
with Double-Ridged Circular Waveguide, US Patent 4,021,814,
May 3,1977.
14.Z. Frank, "Very Wideband Corrugated Horns," Electronics
Letters, 11, March 1975, pp. 131-133.
15. X. Zhang, "Design of Conical Corrugated Feed Horns for
Wide-Band High-Frequency Applications," IEEE Transactions on
Microwave Theory and Techniques, 41, August 1993, pp. 1263-
1274.
16. G. L. James, "Design of Wide-Band Compact Corrugated
Hom," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-32,
October 1984, pp. 1134-1138.
17. A. D. Olver and J. Xiang, "Design of Profiled Corrugated
Horns," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-36,
July 1988, pp. 936-940.
18. J. Teniente, R. Gonzalo, and C. Rio, "Ultra-Wide Band Corru-
gated Gaussian Profiled Hom Antenna Design," IEEE Microwave
and Wireless Components Letters, 12, January 2002, pp. 20-21.
19. R. Gonzalo, J. Teniente, and C. Rio, "Improved Radiation Pat-
tern Performance of Gaussian Profiled Hom Antennas," IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-50, November
2002,pp.1505-1513.
20. A. A. Kishk and C. S. Lim, "Comparative Analysis Between
Conical and Gaussian Profiled Hom Antennas," Progress in Elec-
tromagnetics Research PIER, 38, 2002, pp. 147-166.
21. P. J. B. Clarricoats, R. F. Dubrovka, and A. D. Olver, "High
Performance Compact Corrugated Hom," lEE Proceedings on
Microwave, Antennas, and Propagation, 151, December 2004, pp.
519-524.
22. J. Teniente, R. Gonzalo, and C. Rio, "Innovative High-Gain
Corrugated Hom Antenna Combining Horizontal and Vertical Cor-
rugations," IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 5,
2006, pp. 380-383.
23. Ansoft Corporation, User's Guide - High Frequency Structure
Simulator, HFSS Ver. 10, 2005.
24. Computer Simulation Technology Corporation, CST Micro-
wave Studio Tutorial, CST MWS Ver. 5, 2003.
25. M. Abbas-Azimi and F. Mazlumi, "Design of Wideband
Coaxial to Circular Waveguide Adaptors by the Use of Circular
Double Ridged Waveguide," in preparation.
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IEEEAntennasand Propagation Magazine, Vol. 51, No.5, October 2009