Quad-Ridge Flared Horn feed design and analysis for WBSPF in radio telescope

A dual polarized Quad-Ridge Flared Horn (QRFH) feed for receiver systems is proposed and presented. The cryogenic 1.6–5.2 GHz feed system design is considered with emphasis on its application in future wideband radio telescope systems. A great deal of simulated and measured results are presented throughout this paper. Hence, the results showed that the proposed design achieved a low reflection coefficient, a main lobe with near-constant symmetrical beam width and an aperture efficiency higher than 64% across the bandwidth. Further developments needed to completely fulfill the requirements for these future wideband radio telescopes are also discussed. It is expected the present design could be a possible feed candidate that is suited for SKA radio telescopes, especially in SKA wideband single pixel feed (WBSPF) — advanced instrumentation programs (AIP) within the pre-construction phase.