2-D Wide-Angle Scanning Phased Array With Hybrid Patch Mode Technique

Abstract

In this letter, a microstrip patch hybrid mode technique is introduced to design a 2-D wide-angle scanning planar phased array. The proposed element consists of a circular patch and four rectangular parasitic patches distributed around the circular patch. In order to obtain wider radiation beamwidth (BW) in two orthogonal azimuth planes, the TM11 mode of the circular patch and the zeroth-order resonant mode of the parasitic rectangular patches are separately excited. Experimental results show that the proposed element can obtain 3 dB BW more than 156° in the two orthogonal azimuth planes. Moreover, an 8 × 8 planar phased array formed by this element can realize wide-angle scanning in a range of about ±65° in the two orthogonal azimuth planes. In the above scanning range, the sidelobe levels of the phased array are always less than −7.8 dB, the scanning gain fluctuation is less than ±1.73 dB, and the main polarizations on the two orthogonal planes are both θ -polarized. In addition, the phased array has a simple structure, a low profile, and convenient fabrication.