Gaussian beam and physical optics iteration technique for wideband beam waveguide feed design

A novel approach is demonstrated which involves iterating Gaussian beam and beam waveguide (BWG) parameters to obtain a wideband BWG feed. The result is further improved by making a comparison with the physical-optics result and repeating the iteration. The basic goal was to design a BWG feed system with good performance from 2 to 32 GHz, utilizing mirror sizes of 20 lambda at the low frequency. The BWG antenna performance (e.g. gain, efficiency, noise temperature) at S, X, and Ka-bands is presented. It is noted that higher-gain horns are needed for higher frequencies. >