STUDY OF SCAN BLINDNESS OF MICROSTRIP ARRAY BY USING DUMBBELL-SHAPED SPLIT-RING DGS

Abstract

A compact dumbbell-shaped split-ring DGS is introduced between array elements of a sixteen-element microstrip array in order to reduce the mutual coupling between antenna elements and eliminate the scan blindness. The proposed DGS is inserted between the adjacent rectangle-shaped slotted microstrip antenna elements separated by 0.35λ, as a technique to suppress the radiation in the horizontal direction. Simulated results show that a reduction in mutual coupling of 36 dB is obtained between elements at the operation frequency of 2.45 GHz (WLAN band). The scan properties of microstrip array with and without DGS have been studied, and the result indicates that the scan blindness of the array has been well eliminated because of the effect of the DGS. We have developed experimental models that have proved the concept of scan blindness elimination. Finally, the influence of other antenna parameters at the presence of DGS in the array system has been studied. Prototype antennas of sixteen-element array with and without resonator have been fabricated, measured, and the idea has been verified. A good agreement is observed between measured and simulated results.