Broadband waveguide horn antenna and method of feeding an antenna structure

1. A waveguide antenna structure, comprising:

a body portion having first and second ends spaced apart by a sidewall extending between first and second ends, the first end having a cross-sectional dimension that is less than a cross-sectional dimension of the second end; and

at least one feed structure including axially spaced apart feed locations along the sidewall of the body portion to facilitate propagating electromagnetic energy through the sidewall for desired frequencies within a frequency range of the at least one feed structure.

2. The antenna structure of claim 1 , the feed locations being determined as a function of respective short circuit locations, each short circuit location depending on a respective center frequency selected within the frequency range.

3. The antenna structure of claim 2 , the sidewall of the body portion having an inner diameter for a first short circuit location that is inversely proportional to a highest center frequency within the frequency range.

4. The antenna structure of claim 3 , the sidewall of the body portion having a flare angle θ, adjacent center frequencies within the frequency range being separated by a center frequency bandwidth, remaining short circuit locations for lower center frequencies in the at least one feed structure having an axial position S n defined by

S

n

=

d

n

-

d

n

-

1

2

tan

⁢

⁢

θ

where:

n is a positive integer;

d n =diameter at short circuit location n; and

d n−1 =diameter at short circuit location n−1.

5. The antenna structure of claim 1 , the body portion further comprising a corrugated horn antenna structure.

6. The antenna structure of claim 5 , the corrugated horn antenna structure including generally circumferentially extending corrugations along an interior sidewall portion thereof.

7. The antenna structure of claim 6 , each of the corrugations being dimensioned and configured according to a desired center frequency.

8. The antenna structure of claim 6 , the corrugations further comprising alternating protruding and recessed portions, the feed locations being defined by apertures extending through the body portion of the horn antenna structure at recessed portions of the corrugations.

9. The antenna structure of claim 1 , the at least one feed structure further comprising plural feed elements at the generally axially spaced apart feed locations, the feed elements comprising at least one of probes and slots operative to propagate electromagnetic energy within the frequency range relative to the body portion.

10. The antenna structure of claim 1 , the at least one feed structure further comprising a first pair of feed structures, each feed structure in the first pair of feed structures having respective feed locations arranged along the body portion about 180 degrees out of phase with each other for propagating electromagnetic energy within the frequency range and having a first polarization.

11. The antenna structure of claim 10 , the at least one feed structure further comprising a second pair of feed structures, each feed structure in the second pair of feed structures having respective feed locations arranged about 180 degrees out of phase with each other and about 90 degrees out of phase with the feed structures in the first pair of feed structures, the second pair of feed structures being operative to propagate electromagnetic energy within the frequency range and having a second polarization, which is different from the first polarization.

12. The antenna structure of claim 11 , the first and second pairs of feed structures defining a first set of feed structures, the antenna structure further comprising at least another set of feed structures axially spaced apart from the first set of feed structures for propagating electromagnetic energy within another frequency range, which is different from the frequency range supported by the first set of feed structures.

13. A waveguide antenna structure, comprising:

horn-shaped means for propagating electromagnetic waves relative to free space, the horn-shaped means having spaced apart ends and a longitudinal central axis extending through the ends; and

means for feeding the horn-shaped means at a plurality of generally axially spaced apart feed locations to facilitate propagating electromagnetic energy at desired frequencies within at least one frequency range.

14. The antenna structure of claim 13 , each of the feed locations being determined as a function of a respective short circuit location functionally related to an associated center frequency within the at least one frequency range.

15. The antenna structure of claim 14 , the horn shaped means having an inner cross-sectional dimension for a first short circuit location that is inversely proportional to a highest center frequency within the at least one frequency range.

16. The antenna structure of claim 13 , the horn-shaped means further comprising generally circumferentially extending corrugations along an interior portion of a sidewall of the horn-shaped means.

17. The antenna structure of claim 16 , each of the corrugations being dimensioned and configured according to a respective center frequency and associated center frequency bandwidth to facilitate propagation of electromagnetic energy through an associated feed location at frequencies within the respective center frequency bandwidth.

18. The antenna structure of claim 17 , the means for feeding further comprising at least one of a slot feed element and a probe feed element at each of the feed locations.

19. The antenna structure of claim 13 , the means for feeding further comprising at least a first pair of feed structures, each feed structure in the first pair of feed structures having respective means for feeding the horn-shaped means at axially spaced apart feed locations arranged along the horn-shaped means about 180 degrees out of phase from each other for propagating electromagnetic energy within a first frequency range and having a first polarization.

20. The antenna structure of claim 19 , the means for feeding further comprising a second pair of feed structures, each feed structure in the second pair of feed structures having respective means for feeding the horn-shaped means at axially spaced apart feed locations arranged along the horn-shaped means about 180 degrees out of phase from each other and about 90 degrees out of phase with the respective feed structures in the first pair of feed structures, the respective means for feeding of the second pair of feed structures being operative to propagate electromagnetic energy within the first frequency range and having a second polarization, which is different from the first polarization.

21. The antenna structure of claim 20 , the first and second pairs of feed structures defining a first set of feed structures, the means for feeding further comprising at least another set of feed structures axially spaced apart from the first set of feed structures for propagating electromagnetic energy within a second frequency range, which is different from the first frequency range.

22. A method for feeding a waveguide horn antenna having a horn-shaped body portion, the method comprising:

determining a short circuit location along a length of the horn-shaped body portion associated with a desired center frequency;

determining a feed location spaced axially a predetermined distance from the short circuit location to facilitate propagating electromagnetic energy for a bandwidth centered about the desired center frequency; and

repeating each of the determining steps to provide a number of feed locations sufficient to enable the waveguide horn antenna to propagate electromagnetic energy at frequencies within at least one frequency range supported by the number of feed locations.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

arranging at least a first pair of feed structures along the body portion at about 180 degrees out of phase from each other, each feed structure in the first pair of feed structures comprising feed elements operative to facilitate propagating electromagnetic energy at a respective feed location for the respective bandwidth.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:

arranging at least a second pair of feed structures along the body portion at about 180 degrees out of phase from each other and 90 degrees out of phase from the feed structures in the first pair of feed structures, each feed structure in the second pair of feed structures comprising feed elements operative to facilitate propagating electromagnetic energy at a respective feed location for the respective bandwidth.