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fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/LAWP.2018.2857807, IEEE
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
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A 3D Printed W-band Slotted Waveguide Array

Antenna Optimized using Machine Learning
Jinpil Tak, Member, IEEE, Adnan Kantemur, Yashika Sharma, Student Member, IEEE, and Hao Xin, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract— A 3D printed W-band slotted waveguide array

antenna (SWAA) is proposed. The proposed SWAA consists of
three different sections (two horizontal ones and a vertical one)
such as a radiating waveguide array with 10  10 slots array with
an aperture size of 31 mm  31.4 mm, a coupling waveguide to
feed the radiating waveguide array, and a vertical waveguide to
feed the coupling waveguide. Machine learning technique based
on artificial neural network algorithm is used to optimize the (a)
design. The optimized SWAA is fabricated using SLA 3D
printing and then is metallized with silver on the inner and outer
surfaces by Jet metal spraying method. To metallize the inner
and outer surfaces of the monolithic structure, non-radiating
slots are added on the surface of the designed SWAA. The
surface roughness is taken into account by employing the
Huray-model methodology in simulation. The SWAA has a 22.5
dBi far-field gain, a -13.5 dB side lobe level and 10 degrees
HPBW at 78.7 GHz in measurement.
(b)

Index Terms— antenna arrays, 3D printing, slotted waveguide,
W-band, artificial neural network.
I. INTRODUCTION
Additive manufacturing (AM), often referred to as 3D
printing, is an exciting field that has received great attention in
recent years. It allows a 3D physical object with arbitrary
configuration to be made directly from digital data in a layer
by layer fashion [1]. Compared to the conventional subtractive
manufacturing, AM has several advantages including
capability of realizing object with arbitrary shape and
complexity, fast digital manufacturing, waste reduction and
potentially low cost. These advantages have been utilized in
the design and fabrication of components in microwave and
even THz region such as antenna and lens in the past decade or
so [2-5]. Moreover, to efficiently exploit the additional design
degree of freedom in a new dimension, machine learning (ML)
techniques can be used because ML techniques are faster and
more efficient than conventional simulation tools and standard
design scheme [6]. Hence, 3D printing technology along with
ML is very powerful to optimize complex design such as
slotted waveguide array antennas (SWAAs) with considerable
number of design parameters.
Due to the high power handling, gain, radiation efficiency,
simple geometric structure and good reliability, SWAAs are
widely used for in many applications including radar and
wireless communication [7]. Conventionally, SWAA is made
of dip brazed metal component fabricated by expensive
precision mechanical machining processes, especially for
millimeter wave applications [8]. SWAA also has been
Fig. 1. Overview of the manufacturing process: (a) SLA 3D printer (Formlabs
Form 2) and 3D printed SWAA, and (b) Jet metal spraying metallization
method and silver metallized SWAA.
realized using alternative methods such as substrate-integrated
waveguide (SIW) technology and diffusion bonding of
laminated thin metal plates [9], [10]. However, they still have
critical issues in terms of dielectric loss and alignment in
millimeter wave region.
As a promising solution for the fabrication challenges of
conventional waveguide components, high-resolution 3D
printing technology combined with metallization has received
great attention. Several waveguide structures and horn
antennas are manufactured based on 3D printing and are then
plated or coated [11], [12]. However, these are designed as
disassembled structures to enable proper metal plating. A
monolithic 3D printed SWAA with electroplating is proposed
in [13] where non-radiating slots are added to the structure to
enable the metal plating without disassembling the structure.
However, the highest operating frequency of SWWAs
reported is 21.7 GHz to provide large enough dimensions for
electroplating.
In this letter, a 3D printed monolithic 10  10 SWAA
optimized using ML technique working at 78 GHz is proposed.
The optimized SWAA is 3D printed by Stereolithography
Apparatus (SLA) and coated with silver by Jet metal spraying
method as shown Fig. 1. The fabricated SWAA is measured
and analyzed with its surface roughness considered.
II. ANTENNA DESIGN AND SIMULATED RESULTS
In this work, the SWAA is initially designed by following
the common design principle [14-16] while taking into
account 3D printing implementation related issues. A

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(a)
(b)
(c) (d)
Fig. 2. Geometry of the proposed SWAA: (a) top view (radiating slot
off-center distance: d1= 0.15 mm, d2= 0.2 mm, d3= 0.25 mm, d4= 0.3 mm, d5=
0.35 mm), (b) side view, (c) bottom view, and (d) disassembled radiating
waveguide (coupling slot orientation angle parameters: θ1= 80°, θ2= 60°, θ3=
85°, θ4= 45°, θ5= 55°).
10-slotted waveguide is designed first and then 10 such
waveguides are placed in parallel to form the 100-slotted array
as shown in Fig. 2(a) (red rectangle slots are radiating slots).
To excite the 10  10 slotted waveguide array, a center-fed
coupling waveguide is designed with 10 coupling slots, as
shown in Fig. 2(d) (yellow rectangle slots are coupling slots).
Also, for practical feeding structure to be compatible with
WR-10 standard waveguide, a feeding waveguide with flange
is designed, as shown in Fig. 2(b).
A. Antenna geometry
Design parameters of the SWAA are illustrated in Fig. 2.
The proposed antenna has three waveguide sections: a
radiating waveguide array, a coupling waveguide and a
feeding waveguide (perpendicular to the radiation and
coupling waveguides), as depicted in Fig. 2(b) and 2(c). The
radiating waveguide array is fed by the coupling waveguide
which is fed by the feeding waveguide with a standard WR-10
flange. The radiating array consists of 10 x 10 non-uniformly
distributed radiating slots (indicated as red rectangles in Fig.
2(a)) to achieve lower side lobe levels (SLLs). The entire 10 
10 array has an aperture size of 31.4 mm  31 mm. The cut
away view of the coupling waveguide with 10 coupling slots is
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2
(a)
(b)
Fig. 3. Comparison between SWAA without non-radiating slots and with
non-radiation slots: (a) E-field distribution in the radiating waveguides (b)
radiation patterns in E- and H-plane at 78 GHz.
shown in Fig. 2(d). Each coupling slot is designed with a
specific angular orientation for impedance matching.
Non-radiating slots indicated as blue rectangles in Fig. 2(a),
2(b) and 2(c) are added on the walls of waveguides to provide
an opening for metallization (a spraying process) of the inner
surfaces of the waveguides without affecting the radiation
performance [17]. This is verified by comparing the simulated
field distributions and radiation patterns at 78 GHz of the
SWAA with non-radiating slots and the SWAA without
non-radiating slots as shown in Fig. 3. It can be observed that
the E-field distributions in the radiating waveguides in both
cases are identical (Fig. 3(a)). Fig. 3(b) plots the simulated
realized gain before and after incorporation of non-radiating
slots into waveguides. Although back lobes increased a little
bit because of the non-radiation slots on the bottom surface of
the waveguide array, the main radiation pattern largely
remains unchanged. The simulated radiation pattern features
24.4 dBi peak gain, 8 degrees half-power beam width
(HPBW), and -16.4 dB SLL with cross-polarization level of
-47dB below the main lobe in E-plane and -23.8 dB SLL with
cross-polarization level of -31.4 dB below the main lobe in
H-plane at 78 GHz.
B. Design optimization with machine learning
ANN is a computational model that consists of a group of
artificial neurons that processes information over
interconnection inspired by the function of biological neural
networks. There are many different ANN structures.
Multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) [18] are successfully and
commonly employed in engineering problems and hence are
applied in this study. In this work, MLPs are trained with the
Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm [19], which has fast learning
ability and provides good convergence. The MLP consists of
three layers: input layer, output layer and a hidden layer. In
this case, the input layer consists of seven design parameters
that includes length as well as orientation angle of the coupling
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(a)

(a)

(b)

Fig. 4. Photograph of fabricated SWAA: (a) 3D printed antenna using SLA

method, (b) the antenna after metallization using Jet metal spraying (left and
middle) and connected antenna to WR-10 waveguide for measurement (right).

slots (lC, θ1, θ2, θ3, θ4, θ5) as shown in Fig. 2(d) and length of
the radiating slots (lR) in Fig. 2(a). In our numerical
experiment, 189 sample points are collected by varying the
value of these seven design parameters and the corresponding
changes in performance parameters are recorded by simulating
the structure in HFSS. The data is divided into three parts:
70% of data is used for training and 15% each is used for
testing and validation respectively. The middle layer of this
ANN model consists of 10 hidden nodes and the output layer
consists of a single node that is defined as the sum of the S11,
side lobe level and back lobe level at 78 GHz. Once the ANN
model is obtained, the value of output is estimated for all
possible combinations of the seven design parameters on a
much finer scale but their range remains the same as that in the
database.
While collecting the database each simulation takes nearly 10
minutes but once the training data is collected, it takes only
few seconds to estimate the performance at 336,140 design
points. Finally, the design parameters set which gives
minimum estimated output value is searched. The optimized
values of the design parameters are obtained as: lC= 2.3 mm, θ1
= 80°, θ2 = 60°, θ3 = 85°, θ4 = 45°, θ5 = 55° and lR=1.8 mm as
shown in Fig. 2(d) and 2(a).
III. SWAA FABRICATION AND MEASURED RESULTS
A. SLA 3D printing
The final SWAA design with some supporting structure as
shown in Fig. 4(a) is printed in one shot without any
disassembly by using a commercial SLA 3D printer Form2
with a black photoreactive resin (heat deflection temperature:
73.1°C). If high temperature resin which has a heat deflection
temperature of 289°C is used, it can handle higher power. The
3D printable resin used here is resistant to chemical reactions
at the later metallization stage. Next, the 3D printed structure
is washed with Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and then cured with
UV light. After the curing process the supporting structure
shown on the left side of Fig. 4(a) is removed manually to
obtain the final SWAA structure shown in the middle and right
side of Fig. 4(a).
(b)
(c)
Fig. 5. (a) Measured 2D surface roughness profile of three metalized
samples using Veeco Dektak 150 surface profilometer and simulation
results incorporating practical parameters such as conductivity and
surface roughness: simulated (a) S11 and (b) peak realized gain by
considering various RMS surface roughness values (RRMS) in the
proposed design using modified Huray-model (Cannon-ball model).
B. Jet Metal spraying metallization
Metallization of the 3D printed SWAA is then completed by
Jet metal technologiesTM [20]. The metallization process uses
painting equipment to spray simultaneously two aqueous
based solutions onto a substrate at ambient pressure and
temperature, leading to a chemical reaction, forming a metal
layer onto the substrate. Using compressed air and a double
nozzle spraying paint gun as shown in Fig. 1(b), the reducing
and oxidizing agents are simultaneously sprayed onto the
substrate surface, starting an oxidation-reduction reaction and
instantly forming a thin metal layer. Deposited metal layer
thickness depends on spraying time and by using this
technique, metal thickness from 20 nm to 7-10 µm can be
achieved. Controlling the metal layer thickness during the
spraying process is based on time, as the reaction speed is well
known at specific temperatures. The proposed SWAA is
coated with silver layer of 1 µm thickness (measured surface
resistance = 0.02 Ω/sq.). Once the required layer thickness is
obtained, deionized water is sprayed onto the surface to stop
all reactions and the substrate is dried with the help of
compressed air, so there is no need for a curing step [16]. Fig.

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(a)
(b)
Fig. 6. Comparison of the measured and simulated results of the proposed
SWAA: (a) S11 characteristic and (b) far-field radiation gain pattern.
4(b) shows photographs of a silver metallized SWAA. The
well coated inner and outer surfaces are visible through the
microscopic view shown in Fig. 4(b).
C. Surface roughness analysis
Surface roughness of 3D printed structures is the primary
performance limitation in millimeter-wave components [21].
To predict accurate antenna performance, the 2D surface
roughness profiles of three 3D printed and metallized samples
are measured using Veeco Dektak 150 profilometer with a
resolution of 0.55 μm as shown in Fig. 5(a). From the
measured profiles, the RMS surface roughness values (RRMS)
are calculated to be 9.9, 14.4 and 9.5 μm. To estimate the
impact of surface roughness, the modified Huray model in
which conducting spheres are stacked on a flat conductor
surface into pyramid-like mounds (also called “cannon-ball’
model) is applied as shown in Fig. 5(b) [22], [23]. Key
parameters such as area of the surface profile, radius of the
spheres and Hall-Huray factor are calculated with 11
snowballs model from the measured RRMS. For example, when
RRMS value is 10 µm, radius of sphere and Hall-Huray factor
are calculated as 1.9 μm and 5.3 respectively. Figs. 5(b) and
5(c) depict the simulated S11 characteristic and peak realized
gain for various RRMS values in the proposed SWAA design. It
can be observed that reflection coefficient is very similar at 78
GHz although the resonance frequency slightly shifts after
incorporation of surface roughness in the model. Moreover,
the peak gain is reduced by 2.4 dB because of the additional
conductive loss from surface roughness. Amount of loss is not
much increased when RRMS increases beyond 10 μm. The peak
realized gain is closer to the measured results when surface
roughness is considered in simulations. The measured DC
conductivity of 5.9e+07 Siemens/m of metallized Ag (using
4-points probe method) was applied in all the simulations.
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4
D. Measurement results
An Agilent E8361A VNA with N5260A (mm-wave
controller) and V10VNA2 (WR-10 frequency extension
modules) were used to measure the fabricated SWAA in
W-band. To calibrate the gain value, a W-band standard gain
horn antenna was also used.
Fig. 6(a) shows the S11 characteristic comparison between
simulation and measurement. The measured resonance
frequency shifted slightly from 78 GHz to 78.68 GHz. The
measured S11 at resonance is about -18 dB. As shown in Fig.
6(b), it can be observed that 22.5 dBi gain, -13.5 dB side lobe
level and 10 degrees HPBW are obtained at the resonance
frequency. Discrepancies between simulation and
measurement in the resonance frequency and gain may be due
to the slight bending of the structure as shown in Fig. 4(b) (the
photo on the right). This bending is caused by the SLA 3D
printing direction as shown in Fig. 4(a). For example, when
the antenna is 3D printed layer by layer from top to bottom,
some resins may sink to the bottom and this can cause some
non-uniformity in the printed structure. In addition, another
possible reason is the flaming process which is applied as a
pre-treatment on the printed parts to increase surface tension
and the coating adhesion for homogeneous silver coating.
Nevertheless, the overall trend of measurement results follows
that of the simulation results.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this letter, 3D monolithically printed W-band 10  10
SWAA optimized using ML is reported. The proposed antenna
is designed with non-radiating slots on the waveguide surfaces
without performance degradation to assist metallization
process of the monolithic structure. Then it is optimized using
ML technique, ANN, for 78 GHz. Optimized SWAA is
fabricated using the SLA 3D printing technique as it offers
lightweight rapid prototyping / manufacturing with relatively
low-cost. The printed waveguide structure is coated by a silver
spraying method at room temperature which achieves good
conductivity and ensures compatibility with the SLA process.
Modified Huray model (Cannon-ball model) is adopted to
include surface roughness, which is an important factor for the
loss of SWAA. To improve surface roughness, postprocessing
such as mechanical polishing and chemical polishing can be
applied. These steps will be incorporated in future work to
improve the performance of the antenna.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported in part by the National Science
Foundation under Award 1408271, the state of Arizona under
TRIF, and Basic Science Research Program through the
National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the
Ministry of Education (2017R1A6A3A03003724). Authors
thank Jet Metal TechnologiesTM for assistance with
metallization technology.
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