A wide angle phase‐frequency scanning linear array composed of leaky‐wave antenna

Abstract

AbstractHere, a wide‐angle phase‐frequency scanning linear array composed of leaky‐wave antennas (LWAs) is proposed. The unit cell of the proposed LWA element consists of microstrip lines and grounded vias. By increasing the scanning rate based on theoretical analysis, wide scanning range with low gain fluctuation of the LWA element is achieved. For gain enhancement, the LWAs are arranged along their length to form a linear array. A method combining theoretical derivation and numerical calculation is used to obtain a high efficiency and low sidelobe level (SLL) of the array. To verify the design method, a linear LWA array is designed, fabricated and measured. The main beam of the LWA array can scan from to in frequency band of 9.3–11.6 GHz with gain fluctuation less than 2 dB and SLL less than  dB. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results.