Ka Band 3D Printed Horn Antennas

This paper presents pyramidal horn antennas operating at 28 GHz, which are manufactured by 3D printing technology. A printed antenna based on a WR-28 waveguide standard gain horn designed for 20 dBi gain is then metalized using two different methods. Copper tape and conductive copper paint are applied to the 3D printed geometry surface. A full-wave electromagnetic simulator, HFSS, is used to design the horns and predict the gain. Through simulation, we observe that dielectric loss impacts the copper tape metallized structure. The measured input reflection coefficient for the 20 dBi horns is presented along with the simulated radiation pattern. The dielectric and metallic loss impact the overall radiation patterns of the antennas. Measured gain for an X band horn is compared with a reference.