Practical Slot Array Design by Method of Moments Using One Basis Function and Constant Correction Length

Abstract

Method of moments (MoM) is an efficient design and analysis method for waveguide slot arrays. A rectangular entire-domain basis function is one of the most popular approximations for the slot aperture fields. MoM with only one basis function does not provide sufficient accuracy and the use of higher order mode of basis functions is inevitable to guarantee accuracy. However, including the higher order modes in MoM results in a rapid increase in the computational time as well as the analysis complexity; this is a serious drawback especially in the slot parameter optimization. The authors propose the slot correction length that compensates for the omission of higher order mode of basis functions. This length is constant for a wide range of couplings and frequency bands for various types of slots. The validity and universality of the concept of slot correction length are demonstrated for various slots and slot parameters. Practical slot array design can be drastically simplified by the use of MoM with only one basis function together with the slot correction length. As an example, a linear waveguide array of reflection-cancelling slot pairs is successfully designed.