A low-cost directional log periodic log spiral antenna

The Square Kilometer Array radio astronomy telescope will achieve the majority of its extremely large aperture area with thousands of parabolic dishes, each illuminated by a wideband antenna feed, and this thesis introduces a new such antenna. The wide bandwidth of this new antenna is achieved with...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McMilin, Emily
Other Authors: Bornemann, J.
Language:English
en
Published: 2010
Subjects:
SKA
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1828/2630
Description
Summary:The Square Kilometer Array radio astronomy telescope will achieve the majority of its extremely large aperture area with thousands of parabolic dishes, each illuminated by a wideband antenna feed, and this thesis introduces a new such antenna. The wide bandwidth of this new antenna is achieved with the development of a directional log periodic antenna. Scaling the log periodic elements into three-dimensional space is the present method used for directional log periodic antennas. We propose confining these often complex log periodic elements into a single plane, while the ground "plane" takes on a three dimensional form, permitting low-cost implementations without requiring the introduction of a complicated scaffolding to support the log periodic elements in 3-D. This low-cost solution would scale well in the implementation of the thousands of antenna feeds that the Square Kilometer Array demands. We also introduce a previously unreported LP design: the log periodic log spiral antenna.