Scanning Rate Enhancement of Leaky-Wave Antennas Using Slow-Wave Substrate Integrated Waveguide Structure

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 66; no. 7; pp. 3747 - 3751
• Main Authors: Guan, Dong-Fang, Zhang, Qingfeng, You, Peng, Yang, Zhang-Biao, Zhou, Yang, Yong, Shao-Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.07.2018; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antennas; Bandwidth; Bandwidths; Cutoff frequency; Frequency measurement; Frequency modulation; Group velocity; Harmonic analysis; Leaky-wave antenna (LWA); Polaritons; Scanning; scanning rate; slow wave; substrate integrated waveguide (SIW); Substrate integrated waveguides; Substrates
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2831257

In this communication, we propose a high scanning rate leaky-wave antenna (LWA) based on a slow-wave substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) structure. The slow-wave effect is introduced by etching periodical slots on the top surface of SIW. The LWA radiation is subsequently realized by introducing sinusoidal modulation to the slots profile. Such a structure significantly improves the scanning rate of LWA due to the small group velocity at the slow-wave region. Simulation and measured results indicate that the proposed LWA scans a wide angle in a narrow bandwidth near the cutoff frequency of surface plasmon polariton. Within the frequency band 13.5-13.9 GHz (3% relative bandwidth), the measured scanning angle is from 2° to 37° with the measured gain all above 9.2 dBi.