Design and implementation of the pillbox antenna for SASARII
The purpose of this dissertation is to introduce the reader to the radar antenna for SASARII. The dissertation describes the design process, implementation and testing of the radar antenna. The dissertation starts off by listing all the user requirements that need to be met by the radar antenna for SASARII. The pillbox antenna is introduced as the antenna of choice. The pillbox or cheese antenna as it is also known is then defined and the history of the antenna and the advantages of using the antenna are also given. The design theory necessary for the construction of the antenna is also given. The dimensions of the feed horn and the dimensions of the aperture to achieve the required beamwidths in the principal E and H-planes are given. The offset-fed pillbox is chosen as the configuration for the antenna. The far-field power patterns of the feed and the antenna are simulated in MATLAB and the directivity of the antenna is calculated. The antenna tests which include power gain, 3 dB beamwidth, return loss and cross-polarization measurements are discussed. The test results are analyzed and compared to the simulations and theoretical predictions to measure the performance of the antenna. This dissertation winds up by discussing the conclusions to the research problem and giving suggestions for future improvements to the design.
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