A spiral radial line slot array antenna with metallic standoffs for deep space missions

A spiral Radial Line Slot Array antenna without dielectric loading or slow-wave material was designed for deep space applications. Metallic and Dielectric standoffs are investigated to separate the slotted plate from the ground plane. The antenna was designed for the X-band Deep Space Network (DSN) frequencies of 7.2 and 8.4 GHz. A Pareto genetic algorithm was used to determine the optimal trade-offs in performance at 7.2 and 8.4 GHz.