High gain antipodal fermi antenna with low cross polarization

Antipodal Fermi antenna (APFA) that uses an antipodal feeding section is proposed and its fundamental characteristics are presented. It is shown that the cross polarization level is decreased by 5-10 dB by the presence of the corrugation. It is also found that high gain, low VSWR and low side lobes and low back lobes are obtained. The mechanism of operation principles is discussed by using FDTD analysis. It is found that the corrugation transforms the current of parallel line mode to the current of traveling wave radiation mode and the effective aperture is enlarged which yields high gain characteristics.