Sheet metal waveguide forming technique

A 30 element shunt slot array was designed analytically and fabricated by a sheet metal waveguide forming technique. This technique starts with 10 mil copper sheet which is then photo-etched completely through for slots and half way through for bendlines. The photo etched copper sheet is bent into waveguide with a couple of simple mandrels. Solder paste is applied to the seams and heated. The analytic design process adjusts the slot length and offset of each slot while including the effect of external mutual coupling until the desired aperture distribution and impedance match are achieved. It is shown that the cost effective sheet metal waveguide forming technique is a viable technique.