E-plane Beamwidth Research Articles

Wide E-Plane Beamwidth Microstrip Patch Antenna Using H-Shaped Gap-Coupling with Three Parasitic Patches for the K-Band

This article presents a new wide E-plane beamwidth rectangular microstrip patch antenna adopting H-shaped gap-coupling with three parasitic patches for the K-band vehicle parking monitoring system, while keeping single substrate. Both side and upper parasitic elements serve as λ and λ/2 resonators and are excited primarily by magnetic and electric couplings, respectively. The synthesis of radiation patterns from main and auxiliary elements results in the E-plane wide-beamwidth property. The proposed gap-coupling antenna provided the peak gain of 4.82 dBi, E-plane half-power beamwidth (HPBW) of 143.4°, and co-to-cross-pol ratios of 22.7 and 20.2 dB within the HPBW for the E- and H-planes, respectively. The presented geometry showed excellent figure of merits compared with others for the K-band.

A 1-to-8 Fully Modular Stacked SIW Antenna Array for Millimeter-Wave Applications

This communication presents a vertically stacked substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) antenna array that enables different array configurations with the minimum number of SIW layers. This achievement lies in the modular feature offered by the proposed design. Specifically, four distinct array configurations can be produced with only three different designs of SIW layers. Depending on the number of SIW layers employed in the stacked antenna, the directivity in the E-plane is modified. To obtain an equal and in-phase power distribution among the array elements, H- and E-plane corporate feeding networks are efficiently implemented in each array configuration. Array configurations of one, two, four, and eight radiating layers are offered by the proposed modular array, where each radiating layer is formed by eight H-plane horn antennas. The simulated directivity for the array configurations ranges from 15.8 to 23.8 dBi and the main beam direction remains fixed along the operating frequency range. The array design has been manufactured, and an agreement between simulated and measured results is observed. The measured impedance bandwidth in all the array configurations is from 35 to 41 GHz (15.79% bandwidth) with a reduction in the E-plane beamwidth as the number of radiating layers increases.

A Dual Polarization 3-D Beamforming AiP

This paper describes the implementation of an antenna-in-package (AiP) with a dual polarization function, supporting a three-dimensional (3D) beamforming operation. In order to implement 3D beamforming, a Yagi-type end-fire antenna supporting each of the x and y directions and a patch-type broadsided antenna supporting the z-direction were implemented. The broadside antennas have dual polarization functions so that they can be received in any direction. Each antenna was implemented in four array structures to support beamforming operations. The broadside antenna was designed in a 2 × 2 array structure, with a patch-type antenna and two linear dual polarization functions. The single antenna operated with a gain of 6 dBi, an E-plane beam width of ±45 degrees, and an H-plane beam width of ±50 degrees and had an antenna gain of 9~11 dBi as well as a vertical/horizontal forming operation with a radiation angle of ±22 degrees The end-fire antenna unit was designed in a 1 × 4 array structure with a Yagi-type antenna. The single antenna had a gain of 4 dBi, with an antenna gain of 8 dBi in the array structure, and it was improved to 11 dBi by adding a parasitic array director. The final end-fire antenna unit had a radiation angle of ±11 degrees and a beamforming coverage of ±45 degrees The vertical and horizontal design results were secured for reception in any direction, and all the array antennas had a return loss of 10 dB or less in the entire frequency band, from 57 to 66 GHz.

Design of Ka band substrate integrated waveguide slot traveling wave array antenna

Aiming at the requirements of Missile Radio Fuze Antenna with low sidelobe, narrow beam and specific directional pattern, a design method of Ka band substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) slot traveling wave array antenna is proposed. Based on the slot theory of SIW, the slot parameters and the excitation amplitude of Taylor linear array elements are calculated by MATLAB, and then the slot parameters and the excitation amplitude of array elements are optimized by Ansoft HFSS electromagnetic simulation software to realize the design of Ka band SIW slot traveling wave array antenna. The simulation results show that the Ka band SIW slot quasi traveling wave array antenna has a working frequency of 34.5 GHz, a gain of 14.2 dB, an E-plane beam width of 8° and a beam inclination of 20°, which can meet the requirements of missile radio fuze.

Design of Composite Microstrip-Monopole Antenna With 180$^\circ$ 1 dB Beamwidth Based on Complementary Sources Concept

A new perspective based on complementary sources radiation is presented for analyzing a widebeam composite microstrip-monopole antenna. The typical cavity model theory shows that the radiation patterns of the microstrip antenna could be calculated by using two parallel equivalent magnetic currents, and the E-plane beamwidth of the traditional microstrip antenna is mainly determined by the array factor. Loading the monopoles through the metal patch of the original microstrip antenna can construct complementary sources. Two monopoles are symmetrically loaded and two pairs of complementary sources are excited. Interestingly, the two pairs of complementary sources are aligned with in-phase magnetic current radiation sources and antiphase electronic current radiation sources, which indicates two heart-shaped radiation patterns pointing in opposite directions. The total far-zone radiated fields synthesized by the two heart-shaped radiation patterns can present wide E-plane beamwidth performance. An example antenna working at 4.4 GHz is designed for verification. With the introduction of a differential feeding scheme for a symmetrical radiation pattern, the E-plane radiation pattern can cover the upper half plane, i.e., 180°, with a fluctuation of less than 1 dB and an antenna gain of over 3 dBi.

Wide-Beam Dielectric Resonator Antenna With Attached Higher-Permittivity Dielectric Slabs

A novel wide-beamwidth rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is proposed. By loading two pairs of higher-permittivity dielectric slabs symmetrically on two opposite surfaces of the rectangular DRA in one direction parallel to the feeding slot, the E-plane radiations from two opposite surfaces of the DRA are restrained. Dimensions and the relative permittivity of the dielectric slabs are adjusted, and the E-plane beamwidths of the DRA are expanded. Moreover, two sides of the metal ground plane in another direction perpendicular to the feeding slot are folded down, and the H-plane beamwidths are broadened. In order to verify the design feasibility and explain the operating principle, a wide-beamwidth rectangular DRA with TE <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">113</sub> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">y</sup> mode is designed and manufactured. Measured results indicate that its maximum half power beamwidths in E-plane and H-plane are 210° and 137°, respectively, while its gains are over 2.2 dBi throughout the usable bandwidth from 3.02 to 3.26 GHz (7.6%).

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMB-SHAPED ME DIPOLE ANTENNA

This paper presents a novel comb-shaped electric dipole and a quarter-wave shorted magnetic dipole in the magneto-electric (ME) dipole antenna. This antenna has been excited by cascaded 1 shaped feed line to exhibit broadside radiation pattern. A wide impedance bandwidth of 24%, with 8.1 dBi peak gain has been achieved for the frequency range 2.2 GHz-2.8 GHz. The antenna also exhibits low side lobe radiations and almost identical E-plane and H-plane radiation patterns in the given frequency range. The 3-dB E-plane and H-plane beamwidth of 101.4° at 2.5 GHz has also been reported. The antenna has a wide potential for various applications in the S band.

A compact broad E-plane beamwidth magneto-electric dipole antenna array for UWB application

ABSTRACTIn this paper, a novel compact magneto-electric (ME) dipole antenna with broad E-plane beamwidth is proposed for ultra-wideband (UWB) indoor positioning system. The ME dipole antenna is designed to obtain wideband and symmetrical radiation pattern. The angled dipole and loaded vertical metal plate are introduced to broaden the E-plane beamwidth. A 1 × 2 antenna array is designed for high gain in the H-plane. A measured −10 dB impedance bandwidth is 52% and the gains are round 5.9 ~ 7.5 dBi from 4.8 to 8.2 GHz. The measured 3-dB beamwidth in the E-plane of the ME dipole antenna array is 83° at 6.5 GHz and more than 100° at 7 GHz. The measurement results are in good agreement with the simulation results.

24 GHz Horizontally Polarized Automotive Antenna Arrays With Wide Fan Beam and High Gain

In this paper, two 24 GHz horizontally polarized 1 × 8 patch antenna arrays were developed for automotive radar applications. The proposed antenna arrays offer the advantages of wide fan beams and high gain. The far-field radiation patterns are widened in the E-plane by disturbing the near-field distribution of each driven patch. In Design I, the driven patch is loaded with a parasitic loop, which functions as a director in the E-plane. Due to the directing effect, the E-plane beamwidth can be increased. The experimental verification prepared for Design I showed that a beamwidth of 130° and a gain of 12.2 dBi can be achieved through this method. To further enhance the beamwidth, another array with each patch loaded with parasitic mushroom-like elements was proposed by Design II. The PMLEs are 180° out of phase to their corresponding driven patch. The cancelation effects can be properly managed to slightly sacrifice the gain of the array in return for a wider beamwidth in the E-plane. Design II exhibits a wider beamwidth of 150° and a lower gain of 11.1 dBi.

2D Gain Enhancement Based on Single-Layer SIW Corrugated Technique with Slot Array Feeder

Novel slot-array-based SIW corrugated technique is demonstrated to achieve 2D gain enhancement, namely, sharpening the beamwidths in both E-plane and H-plane. Compared to other metallic corrugated methods to realize 2D gain enhancement, the proposed design, with SIW grooves to reduce the beamwidth in E-plane and slot array to increase the directivity in H-plane, has a lower profile, weight, and design complexity, which can be easily fabricated with the common printed circuit board (PCB) technique. A prototype is designed and fabricated, with measurement presenting a low reflection coefficient less than −10 dB from 26.4 GHz to 28.2 GHz and an enhanced gain up to 18 dB. Overall, our proposed technique will be beneficial for the design of high-gain antenna in 5G wireless terminals.

Wideband H‐plane dielectric horn antenna

By flaring a dielectric waveguide in the H-plane, an H-plane dielectric horn is formed, which could be directly excited by an SIW feed. However, matching and radiation performances are poor due to the thinness of the substrate. To improve these performances, some periodic parallel strips are printed both on the top and bottom planes of the dielectric horn. These strips guide and leak the electromagnetic waves gradually along the horn, finally enhancing the end-fire radiation both in H-plane and E-plane. Moreover, they increase the impedance bandwidth up to 38% in Ka-band, and improve the realised gain by around 2 dB. Indeed, a gain of 14.3 dBi is achieved at the centre frequency, with a front-to-back ratio of 27 dB, a side-lobe level of −22 dB in the H-plane, and the narrowed E-plane and H-plane half-power beamwidth of about 20°. The measured and simulated results agree with each other very well. In addition, the proposed H-plane horn antenna is very compact, low cost, and could be easily integrated.

Substrate Integrated Waveguide H-Plane Horn Antenna With Improved Front-to-Back Ratio and Reduced Sidelobe Level

A cost-effective way of reducing sidelobe level and improving front-to-back ratio of the substrate integrated waveguide H-plane horn antennas is proposed in this letter. Metal rectangular patches and dielectric loading are integrated to the aperture of the horn antenna, resulting in an increased gain, narrow E-plane beamwidth, and reduced sidelobes and backward radiation. The overall dimensions of the fabricated antenna are 42 × 18.6 mm2 . The antenna works at 22.7 GHz with a measured gain of 10.1 dBi. A single substrate and a 3.5-mm connector with a transition pin are used to ensure the lowest cost for mass production.

A Miniaturized Wide-Beamwidth Circularly Polarized Planar Antenna via Two Pairs of Folded Dipoles in a Square Contour

A circularly polarized (CP) antenna with a wide axial-ratio (AR) beamwidth is presented by placing the two pairs of folded dipoles in a square contour. First, our study demonstrates that the CP radiation can be achieved at the broadside by setting a 90° phase difference between the vertical- and horizontal-paired folded dipole radiators. Second, a radiation pattern subtraction approach is presented to explain how the radiation beamwidth of the paired folded dipoles could be appropriately widened or narrowed according to the radiation pattern subtraction of two opposite electric current densities in the folded dipoles. Using this approach, the E-plane beamwidth of a pair of folded dipoles is made certainly widened, whereas its H-plane counterpart becomes narrowed. On this basis, the E- and H-plane radiation patterns can still be made approximately identical with each other over a wide range of polar angle, even though the distance between dipoles is deliberately shortened. As such, the desired CP antenna with shortened dipole-to-dipole distance and unaffected wide AR beamwidth can be achieved using two pairs of parallel folded dipoles with shortened distance between them instead of linear dipoles in [24] . Finally, a CP printed antenna is designed and fabricated on a single dielectric substrate. Experimental results are found in good agreement with the simulated ones in terms of radiation patterns, gain, AR, efficiency, and reflection coefficient. In particular, the 3-dB AR beamwidth at the central frequency of 1.6 GHz is extended to 135° at $XZ$ -plane and 142° at $YZ$ -plane. Moreover, the overall size of the constituted CP antenna with folded dipoles is decreased to $\mathbf{0}.\mathbf{43}\;{\boldsymbol{\lambda }_\mathbf{0}} \times 0.43\;{\boldsymbol{\lambda }_\mathbf{0}}$ ( ${\mathbf{\lambda }_\mathbf{0}}$ is the wavelength in free space).

Design of a multiband printed LPDA for weather radar reflector systems

A printed Log-periodic dipole array (LPDA) is presented as a multiband feed for reflector antennas in weather radar applications. The antenna has been designed starting from Carrel’s theory, optimized using CST Microwave Studio 2012, and then realized. The comparison between simulated and measured results shows that the proposed antenna can be used for weather radar applications both in the S- (2.7–3 GHz) and C- (5.4–5.8 GHz) frequency bands, with a very good input matching and a satisfactory end-fire radiation pattern. Moreover, it has a compact size, is very easy to realize, and presents an excellent out-of-band rejection, without the use of stop-band filters, thus avoiding interferences out of the weather radars’ operating frequency band. In order to obtain the same beamwidth both in E-plane and H-plane, a V-shaped configuration is proposed, which allows to improve the aperture efficiency of a reflector antenna fed by the presented LPDA.

A Zeroth-Order Resonance Patch Antenna for Dual Band Operations with Broad E-plane Beam Widths

this paper, design of probe fed zeroth order resonance (ZOR) antenna with dual frequency operation is presented. The mushroom structure is placed at the center of the geometry and the grounded via to have the desired ZOR response. The feed is connected between the inner ring and the mushroom structure. There are several ZOR antennas are available in literature with only one resonant frequency. However, in this work we presented ZOR antenna which excites dual resonances. The second resonance is obtained by placing two stubs and an outer ring. Also, it may be noted that we get nearly broader E-plane beamwidths (112 and 90 degrees) at both the resonance frequencies. The bandwidth of 7.8% at second resonant frequency was obtained as compared to the conventional patch antennas (2~3%). At first resonance only narrow band performance was observed. Measured results fairly agree with the simulated data.

Controlling Beamwidth of Antenna Using Frequency Selective Surface Superstrate

A method of using frequency selective surface (FSS) to dynamically control beamwidth of antenna is proposed. The unit cell is composed of a two-layer periodic H-shape structure loaded with varactors. By tuning the bias voltage applied to the varactors, the unit cell has two different states that are transparent and absorptive to the incident wave at a certain frequency, respectively. We can control the transparent region of the whole FSS through reasonably setting the capacitance of the varactor loaded on each unit cell, and thus the beamwidth of the transmitted wave could be tuned. The above property has been validated by putting the FSS above the horn antenna array as superstrate. Simulation results show that E-plane beamwidth of the antenna can be enlarged from 13.2 ° to 31.1 ° at 5.5 GHz, and experimental results agree well with the simulated ones. In addition, it is found that the operation frequency for beamwidth control can be tuned as well.

On the Broadband Reflector-Backed Dipole Antennas With Wide Beamwidth for the EMC Tests of Large Equipment Above 1 GHz

In this paper, we introduce the concept that the antenna beamwidths should match the physical dimensions of equipment under test when performing the radiated emission and radiated susceptibility experiments, and for the first time, we propose the usage of reflector-backed dipole antennas (RBDAs). The coverage requirements are categorized into several groups according to the typical dimensions of several large platforms for the horizontal and vertical polarizations. The directivities and achievable electric field strengths of RBDAs are estimated and discussed. An approximate current distribution is proposed for the RBDAs with an infinite reflector, which can predict the radiation patterns for a given dimension and facilitate the design procedure. In addition, the usage of nonplanar dipole elements is briefly introduced to increase the E-plane beamwidth. The array techniques are utilized to reduce the beamwidth flexibly in the E- or H-plane for the EUTs with a large length-to-height ratio. Design examples are presented and numerically evaluated to verify the proposed solutions.

Millimeter-Wave Shaped-Beam Substrate Integrated Conformal Array Antenna

A millimeter-wave shaped-beam substrate integrated conformal array antenna is demonstrated in this paper. After discussing the influence of conformal shape on the characteristics of a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) and a radiating slot, an array mounted on a cylindrical surface with a radius of 20 mm, i.e., 2.3 λ, is synthesized at the center frequency of 35 GHz. All components, including a 1-to-8 divider, a phase compensated network and an 8 × 8 slot array are fabricated in a single dielectric substrate together. In measurement, it has a - 27.4 dB sidelobe level (SLL) beam in H-plane and a flat-topped fan beam with -38 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> ~ 37 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> 3 dB beamwidth in E-plane at the center frequency of 35 GHz. The cross polarization is lower than -41.7 dB at the beam direction. Experimental results agree well with simulations, thus validating our design. This SIW scheme is able to solve the difficulty of integration between conformal array elements and a feed network in millimeter-wave frequency band, while avoid radiation leakage and element-to-element parasitic cross-coupling from the feed network.

DIELECTRIC LOADED EXPONENTIALLY TAPERED SLOT ANTENNA FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS AT 60 GHZ

This paper deals with the dielectric loaded Exponentially Tapered Slot (ETS) antenna needed for ultra-high-speed, high- capacity wireless communication systems which work at 60GHz and illustrates its speciflcations and requirements. The antenna in such system requires high gain, high-e-cient and high performance design speciflcations. The ETS antenna and the loaded dielectric are integrated using the same single substrate resulting in easy fabrication and low cost. The ETS antenna with rectangular and elliptical shaped loaded dielectrics were designed and fabricated. These antennas have high gain and wider beamwidth in both E-plane and H-plane. The proposed antenna design is simulated using 3D electromagnetic software CST Microwave Studio and the comparison is made with Ansys HFSS to validate the design procedure. The results obtained from the simulations and the measurements are in good agreement.

Hybrid Zeroth-Order Resonance Patch Antenna With Broad $E$-Plane Beamwidth

In this paper, a hybrid zeroth-order resonance (ZOR) patch antenna with a broad <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> -plane beamwidth is presented. In order to obtain the broad beamwidth of an antenna, a TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">010</sub> (λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> /2) mode and a ZOR mode are combined. By dividing the incident power to two modes, the <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> -plane beamwidth of a TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">010</sub> mode can simply be controlled. To generate the TM <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">010</sub> mode and the ZOR mode, simultaneously, the mushroom antenna is inserted in a rectangular patch antenna with an etched rectangular hole and a single feed is employed between two radiators. The incident power to each antenna can be controlled by using the gap of a feed. Thus, the optimum incident power ratio having the broadest <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> -plane half power beamwidth (HPBW) is obtained. As a result, the <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</i> -plane HPBW of the proposed antenna is measured as 115° and broadened by 53%, compared with that of the conventional rectangular patch antenna. Moreover, the bandwidth and the efficiency of the antenna are measured to be 3.3% and 92%, respectively. Finally, the measured results show good agreements with the simulated ones.