Beam steering and monopulse processing of probe-fed dielectric resonator antennas

Abstract

It is shown that the azimuth radiation pattern direction of a multi-probe dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) can be changed by exciting different probes within the dielectric when the other probes are open-circuited. When two probes are excited simultaneously, smaller steering increments can be obtained without significantly changing the beamwidths. In some combinations, a pair of probes has a significantly greater bandwidth than a single probe. Driving pairs of probes with unequal power division is shown to steer the beam by the expected amount, thus forming the basis for future electronic beam steering of DRAs and creating the possibility of obtaining any desired steering angle. DRA monopulse processing, using two beams to form sum and difference patterns, is also demonstrated. These results have obvious applications for radar systems where control of the radiation pattern is desirable. The efficiency of DRAs make them well suited to these applications, except where large bandwidths are required.