| There is an ever increasing need for smaller, lighter, more efficient antennas for commercial and military applications. One such antenna that meets these requirements is the Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA). In recent years there has been an abundance of research on the utilization of the DRA as a radiating element. However, its practical application - especially pertaining to DRA arrays - is still considered to be at its infancy. The purpose of this work is to present a systematic process to be used in the design, simulation, optimization, fabrication, and testing of a cylindrical DRA array including its associated feed network. The DRA array development cycle begins with a single cylindrical radiating element. Common DRA parameters such as DRA radius, feed type, feed location, and element spacing are investigated. A DRA element in this research is optimized for bandwidth and gain for use at x-band (8-12 GHz).;The antenna feed network, being an integral part of all antenna arrays, is also considered. The primary causes of impedance mismatch in the feed network are identified and techniques to improve performance are explored. An improvement in impedance bandwidth is gained through traditional transmission line matching methods. Ultimately, a 16 (4x4) element and 256 (16x16) element array is fabricated, tested, and compared to an existing commercial technology. |
