Interfacing Dual-Polarized Waveguide Direct Radiating Arrays with Front-End Electronics

This paper investigates the challenging interface between Ka-band waveguide-based arrays and the transmit/receive modules in printed circuit boards. To overcome the limitations associated with this integration, a novel and highly compact waveguide end-launcher is proposed. When combined with a waveguide polarizer, the design supports dual-circular polarization over the Ka-band downlink frequency range (17.7 – 20.7 GHz) without requiring re-meshing layers or expanders to interface with the transmit/receive modules. The proposed solution effectively addresses the constraints of conventional inline waveguide end-launchers, which are restricted to single-mode or single-polarization excitation per port.