Analysis of infinite arrays of substrate-supported metal stripantennas

An electric field integral equation method is applied to a metal strip antenna on an electrically thick dielectric substrate of finite size in a uniform infinite array environment. An efficient solution is found using the method of moments. Metal strip folded dipole antennas are analyzed both with and without a coplanar strip feed line, and the effects of the substrate and feed line are investigated. A technique for minimizing the effect of feed line scattering is presented, and arrays of these elements are shown to be capable of good scanning performance over a wide range of beam-steer angles. A phased array simulator experiment is described and the measured results show good agreement with those obtained by analysis. The class of antenna elements studied may be fabricated using monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology, and the analysis described illustrates the expected characteristics for millimeter-wavelength phased arrays of this type     

Considerations for millimeter wave printed antennas

Calculated data are presented on the performance of printed antenna elements on substrates which may be electrically thick, as would be the case for printed antennas at millimeter wave frequencies. Printed dipoles and microstrip patch antennas on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), quartz, and gallium arsenide substrates are considered. Data are given for resonant length, resonant resistance, bandwidth, loss due to surface waves, loss due to dielectric heating, and mutual coupling. Also presented is an optimization procedure for maximizing or minimizing power launched into surface waves from a multielement printed antenna array. The data are calculated by a moment method solution.     

Comparative study on the mutual coupling between different sized cylindrical dielectric resonators antennas and circular microstrip patch antennas

A systematic comparative study on the mutual coupling (S/sub 21/) between dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs) and microstrip patch antennas is presented. The mutual coupling between two cylindrical probe-fed DRAs is studied for different radius to height (a/L) ratios. It is found that the mutual coupling decreases with the radius to height ratio. Comparison between mutual coupling of probe-fed cylindrical DRAs and circular microstrip patch antennas with different dielectric substrates are also studied. The mutual coupling between DRAs is 2 dB stronger than between microstrip patch antennas when the patch is etched on a dielectric substrate of a dielectric constant close to the permittivity of the DRA. The mutual coupling of the circular patch antennas reduces with the dielectric constant of the substrate.     

Mutual coupling between reduced surface-wave microstrip antennas

An investigation of the mutual coupling between reduced surface-wave microstrip antennas is presented and compared with that for conventional microstrip antennas. Numerical results are presented from a theoretical analysis of the mutual coupling along with confirming experimental results. It is shown that for electrically thin substrates, the space-wave coupling, not the surface-wave coupling, is predominant for typical element spacing, for both the conventional and reduced surface-wave antennas. In addition, the mutual coupling behavior is examined using an asymptotic analysis, which demonstrates how the coupling falls off much faster with patch separation for reduced surface wave antennas compared to conventional microstrip patch antennas     

Simple and Accurate Analytical Model of Planar Grids and High-Impedance Surfaces Comprising Metal Strips or Patches

Simple analytical formulas are introduced for the grid impedance of electrically dense arrays of square patches and for the surface impedance of high-impedance surfaces based on the dense arrays of metal strips or square patches over ground planes. Emphasis is on the oblique-incidence excitation. The approach is based on the known analytical models for strip grids combined with the approximate Babinet principle for planar grids located at a dielectric interface. Analytical expressions for the surface impedance and reflection coefficient resulting from our analysis are thoroughly verified by full-wave simulations and compared with available data in open literature for particular cases. The results can be used in the design of various antennas and microwave or millimeter wave devices which use artificial impedance surfaces and artificial magnetic conductors (reflect-array antennas, tunable phase shifters, etc.), as well as for the derivation of accurate higher-order impedance boundary conditions for artificial (high-) impedance surfaces. As an example, the propagation properties of surface waves along the high-impedance surfaces are studied.     

Experimental verification of the reduction of coupling between dipole antennas by using a woodpile substrate

In this paper, the mutual coupling between dipole antennas placed on top of a woodpile structure is experimentally investigated. The coupling between dipoles backed by a woodpile substrate is compared with that obtained when the dipole antennas are placed on a dielectric substrate and when they radiate into free space. On average, between 2 and 7 dB reduction of the mutual coupling is achieved with respect to the dielectric substrate case when the woodpile substrate is used. The free space coupling is also reduced in the H-plane configuration case. However, the E-plane coupling slightly increases due to modification of the radiation pattern. Imaging array applications could potentially benefit from the use of EBG substrates due to the improved isolation between pixels.     

A mutual coupling study of linear and circular polarized microstrip antennas for diversity wireless systems

In this paper, an analysis of mutual coupling is presented to examine the benefits of orthogonal polarizations and patterns for adjacent microstrip antennas. The mutual coupling between two linear polarized antennas orientated in parallel polarizations (E and H plane) is reduced using low dielectric constant materials. The mutual coupling can be reduced an additional 20-35dB at the same inter-element spacing when adjacent elements are orientated in orthogonal polarizations, O plane. Similarly, the mutual coupling between two circular polarized antennas orientated in the parallel polarization is reduced using low dielectric constant materials. However, the reduction in mutual coupling between two circular polarized antenna elements orientated in the O plane is only an additional 1-6 dB. The mutual coupling between a linear polarized sum beam (1/2/spl lambda/) and difference beam (1/spl lambda/) antenna is reduced 20-35 dB below the case when using identical antennas only in the H- and O-planes. Compact two- and four-element multielement antennas with inter-element spacings less than 0.15/spl lambda/ are fabricated and the S parameters and radiation patterns are measured.     

Electrically small complementary pair (ESCP) with interelement coupling

Electrically small (reduced size) antennas are inherently narrow-band or inefficient, or both. A summary is presented of prior work on complementary pair antennas and the use of the coupling between the two elements to optimize the impedance match and efficiency of such structures. The design of electrically small complementary pairs is described, and preliminary measurement results are shown for monopoles. These measurements indicate a substantial improvement in gain-bandwidth product as compared to conventional matching techniques for electrically small antennas. The power delivered to the external region is analyzed for both an individual monopole, and a pair of monopoles, by establishing the scattering matrices for both cases. The potential gain is calculated for the pair over the individual monopole, and it is shown that the pair can deliver up to twice the power to the exterior region if the mutual impedance term is optimized. In addition, the complementarization circuit in conjunction with the hybrid feed can reduce the effects of mutual impedances in steerable-beam arrays. Various special cases are discussed, varying from full complementarity to zero complementarity, and general conclusions are presented on the optimization of gain-bandwidth product. Applications include small individual antennas and scatterers as well as linear, planar, or circular arrays in a variety of fixed-station or vehicular uses.     

CPW-fed slot antennas on multilayer dielectric substrates

Coplanar wave (CPW)-fed slot antennas printed on multilayer dielectric substrates are numerically analyzed using a full-wave integral equation technique and the method of moments. The Green's function is derived with an iterative formulation. Results obtained with a simplified and a rigorous model of the feeding CPW lines are compared. The mutual coupling between the slot antennas in an array environment is calculated for a three-layer high-low-high permittivity combination. The theoretical results are verified with measurements     

Use of broadside twin element antennas to increase efficiency on electrically thick dielectric substrates

This paper describes a technique for using twin element antennas (dipoles and slots) to increase the efficiency of antennas fabricated on electrically thick dielectric substrates. We present calculations which show that the efficiency of both the slot and dipole antennas can be increased by the proper spacing of elements placed broadside to each other. We consider the use of substrates that are odd integral multiples of a quarter of a dielectric wavelength thick and give results for an ε=4 substrate with thicknesses of one, three, and five quarter wavelengths. These thicknesses can be used when working at millimeter wave frequencies and yield substrate dimensions which can be handled and processed easily, while still yielding radiation-to-air efficiencies of about 70%. We also show calculated beam patterns for the elements which appear to be suitable for imaging array applications.     

Space-wave efficiency of electrically thick circular microstrip antennas

A new very simple expression is presented for the space-wave efficiency of electrically thick circular microstrip antennas. It is derived from numerical results available in the literature, and is valid for the complete range of relative dielectric constants and the thicknesses of substrates which are normally used. It also provides insight into the fundamental influence of the substrate parameters on the space-wave efficiency of the circular microstrip antennas. The results obtained by using this expression are in conformity with those reported elsewhere.     

Broad-band cavity-backed and capacitively probe-fed microstrippatch arrays

A hybrid full wave method for the analysis of probe-fed infinite phased arrays of single and stacked microstrip patches, backed by metallic cavities, is applied to investigate the combined utilization of the capacitive probe-feeding technique and the cavity enclosure of microstrip patches. The goal is to obtain broad-band microstrip antennas on thick substrates without the limitations due to the generation of surface waves of the conventional microstrip antennas on infinite substrates. A design procedure for the capacitive coupling is investigated and theoretical results for the active input impedance and radiation characteristics of different wide-band antenna designs are presented     

Microstrip dipoles on electrically thick substrates

Certain basic radiation properties of microstrip dipoles on electrically thick substrates are investigated, and a comparison is made with the case of dipoles printed on a dielectric half-space. It is concluded that the microstrip dipole radiation properties become sensitive to substrate loss as the substrate thickness increases, with the half-space properties obtained for an adequate amount of loss. Asymptotic formulas for radiated power and efficiency are given for both the thick substrate and half-space problems, showing the behavior with increasing dielectric constant. The method of moments is used to extend the analysis to center-fed strip dipoles, and a method of improving both the efficiency and gain of a printed antenna by using a superstrate layer is discussed.     

An analysis of antenna coupling between arrays on a polyhedronstructure

Antenna coupling between arrays on a polyhedron structure is investigated. First of all, a high-frequency asymptotic closed-form formula is derived for the mutual admittance between two linearly polarized circular microstrip antennas located on the different faces of a perfectly conducting wedge. The microstrip antennas are modeled by the cavity model, and the mutual coupling caused by the wedge-diffracted field is analyzed by the EMF method using Keller's GTD diffraction coefficients for the diffracted field. Next, the antenna coupling between arrays is calculated and compared with an experimental result. Good agreement between them supports the theory. Finally, the properties of the antenna coupling are described by some numerical simulations     

Mutual coupling reduction of low-profile monopole antennas onhigh-impedance ground plane

The mutual coupling effects of flush-mounted (horizontal) monopole antennas on high-impedance ground planes (HIP) have been measured. Experiments of horizontal monopoles on HIP with a bandgap centred at 4.7 GHz show that the interference between two adjacent elements is stronger compared to those on a regular metal ground plane due to special properties of HIP. A technique using a combination of HIP and thin metal strip is proven to reduce the mutual coupling by ~6 dB. Similar results have been obtained for the horizontal monopoles on HIP with a bandgap centre at 17 GHz     

Analysis of finite arrays of axially directed printed dipoles on electrically large circular cylinders

Various arrays consisting of finite number of printed dipoles on electrically large dielectric coated circular cylinders are investigated using a hybrid method of moments/Green's function technique in the spatial domain. This is basically an "element by element" approach in which the mutual coupling between dipoles through space as well as surface waves is incorporated. The efficiency of the method comes from the computation of the Green's function, where three types of spatial domain Green's function representations are used interchangeably, based on their computational efficiency and regions where they remain accurate. Numerical results are presented in the form of array current distributions, active reflection coefficient and far-field pattern to indicate the efficiency and accuracy of the method. Furthermore, these results are compared with similar results obtained from finite arrays of printed dipoles on grounded planar dielectric slabs. It is shown that planar approximations, except for small separations, can not be used due to the mutual coupling between the array elements. Consequently, basic performance metrics of printed dipole arrays on coated cylinders show significant discrepancies when compared to their planar counterparts.     

共享孔径交错稀疏阵列天线互耦误差建模与校正

共享孔径交错稀疏阵列天线是实现多功能阵列天线的有效途径。现有的参数化互耦消除方法都是针对均匀阵列天线展开的,其研究的互耦矩阵都是规则的方阵,对共享孔径交错稀疏阵列天线的互耦矩阵模型并不适用。在充分考虑共享孔径交错稀疏阵列天线中子阵内互耦的“稀疏”和“方位依赖”的特殊性后,通过将常规的互耦矩阵扩展表示为“非方”的“增广互耦矩阵”来对交错稀疏阵列天线子阵内和子阵间的耦合效应进行建模,并通过“增广互耦矩阵”的参数化估计最终实现了共享孔径交错稀疏阵列天线互耦误差的建模与校正。仿真结果证实了所提方法的有效性和可行性。     

Analysis of finite-phased arrays of aperture-coupled stackedmicrostrip antennas

Analytical results for finite-phased arrays of aperture-coupled stacked microstrip antennas are presented. In order to evaluate the characteristics of aperture-coupled microstrip antennas in a finite array and derive the moment-method solutions for the unknown current distributions on the patches and slots, the reciprocity theorem and the spectral domain Green's functions for a dielectric slab are used. Various sized arrays are considered and compared with solutions for an infinite array. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the input impedance, mutual coupling, active reflection coefficient versus scan angle, radiation efficiency, and active-element gain patterns     

Finite phased arrays of rectangular microstrip patches

Finite phased arrays of rectangular microstrip patch antennas are analyzed. Reflection coefficient magnitudes, element patterns and efficiency (based on power lost to surface waves) are calculated for various sized arrays on substrates of practical interest and are compared with previous infinite array solutions. Measured element patterns and mutual coupling data for a small array are presented and compared with calculations.     

Mutual impedance of hemispherical dielectric resonator antennas

The mutual coupling between two hemispherical dielectric resonator antennas is studied analytically. The radiation fields of the antennas are derived rigorously from a Green's function. The mutual impedance is then determined from a reaction formula. Comparison between theory and experiment is presented