A waveguide-based aperture-coupled patch amplifier array - Full-wave system analysis and experimental validation

In this paper, the full-wave analysis and experimental verification of a wa veguide-based aperture-coupled patch amplifier array are presented. The spa tial power-combining amplifier array is modeled by the decomposition of the entire system into several electromagnetically coupled modules. This inclu des a method of moments integral equation formulation of the generalized sc attering matrix (GSM) for an N-port waveguide-based patch-to-slot transitio n; a mode-matching analysis of the GSM for the receiving and transmitting r ectangular waveguide tapers; and a finite-element analysis of the waveguide -to-microstrip line junctions, An overall response of the system is obtaine d by cascading GSMs of electromagnetic structures and the S-parameters of a mplifier networks. Numerical and experimental results are presented for the single unit cell and 2 x 3 amplifier array operating at X-band, The result s are shown for the rectangular aperture-coupled patch array, although the analysis is applicable to structures with arbitrarily shaped planar electri c and magnetic surfaces.