Broadband cavity-like array antenna element and a conformal array subsystem comprising such elements

摘要

The invention concerns a broadband antenna element for array antennas using microstrip technology. In accordance with the invention, an etched patch 2 on a dielectric substrate 1 is disposed at the bottom of a cavity 7 defined by conductive walls 8, cylindrical walls, for example, or walls of more complicated geometry. Depending on the embodiment, the conductive walls 8 can extend through the dielectric substrate 1 to form an electric contact with the ground plane 6 or a second resonator comprising a second etched patch 12 on a second thin dielectric substrate 11 may be placed in front of the cavity 7. The invention also applies to antenna subarrays constructed from a plurality of these antenna elements and to array antennas constructed from a plurality of these subarrays.