Ansoft Customers - Johns Hopkins University

The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), a division of The Johns Hopkins University, is a not-for-profit research and development organization dedicated to solving a wide range of complex problems that present critical challenges to the nation. Through advanced technology; highly qualified, diverse teams; hands-on operational knowledge; and a basic systems engineering approach, APL achieves affordable, effective solutions. APL's outstanding creative staff and world-class facilities have made the Laboratory a major asset to the nation for more than six decades.

THE NEED
To optimize the design of a slotted waveguide antenna

THE SOLUTION
HFSS™

Perry M. Malouf, Senior Professional Staff, Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), used HFSS to help optimize the design of a slotted waveguide antenna, with slots in the narrow wall of the rectangular waveguide.

"Simulations in HFSS have improved our understanding of how to optimize the design of these antennas and helped to determine which design parameters are the most important," said Malouf.

The slots are spaced apart by a half guide wavelength; the waveguide is fed at one end and shorted at the other end. The antennas have been well characterized and are known to produce linearly polarized radiation.

A significant addition to the design has resulted in the production of circularly polarized radiation from a slotted waveguide antenna. The JHUAPL team achieved the design using trial-and-error methods, and an array of the antennas serves as the electronically steerable high-gain antenna on the MESSENGER spacecraft.

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