Single-conductor strip leaky-wave antenna

This paper presents a leaky-wave antenna with only a single-conductor strip on a substrate without a practical ground plane. The full-wave integral equation method is used to investigate the EH/sub 01/ leaky mode of this single-conductor strip structure. When this single-conductor strip is on a thin substrate with a low dielectric constant, a broad-band radiation regime can exist for the EH/sub 01/ leaky mode. The balanced microstrip lines and the inverted balanced microstrip lines are used to excite this EH/sub 01/ leaky mode. This work presents both the numerically simulated and measured data. The measured bandwidth of a voltage standing-wave ratio /spl les/2 is from 6.55- 13.75 GHz (2.34:1). In this case, the normalized phase constant is very close to 1 and this results in a fixed main-beam radiation pattern in the end-fire direction. This leaky-wave antenna with only a single rectangle stripline of length 110 mm can achieve the same broad-band performance as a tapered microstrip leaky wave antenna with a length 310 mm, as previously reported by the authors.     

Frequency-fixed beam-scanning microstrip leaky-wave antenna with multi-terminals

New frequency-fixed beam-scanning microstrip leaky-wave antennas are reported. The beam-scanning ability at a fixed frequency of the antenna can be achieved with novel feeding configurations. Simulation and measurement results show the new feeding structure can make the main lobe gradually scan from 50 to 80/spl deg/ in H-plane when the frequency fixes at 1.12 GHz     

An asymmetric feeding X-band active frequency-scanning leaky-wave antenna

An asymmetric feeding X-band active leaky-wave antennas is developed, to excite the first high order mode of the microstrip leaky wave antenna. One is the asymmetric feeding leaky-wave antenna which integrated with a HEMT oscillator, and the other is the frequency-tuned leaky-wave antenna which integrated with a varactortuned HEMT VCO. The microstrip leaky-wave antenna is operated in the first higher mode. To excite the first higher mode, the microstrip leaky-wave antenna is fed asymmetrically. The dominant mode excitation has been successfully suppressed by adding a sequence of covered wire in the center of the microstrip leaky wave antenna. The design of these active leaky-wave antennas is discussed and the beam scanning phenomena of the antenna is presented. The HEMT oscillator frequency is controlled by tuning the varactor DC bias and the beam scanning is demonstrated. The measured scanning angle agree with prediction, it is close to 30° as the VCO frequency tuned from 8.06 GHz to 9GHz.     

Multiple meander strip monopole antenna

A novel multiple meander strip monopole antenna is presented. By iteratively meandering the vertical strip, compactness and broadband characteristics for the monopole antenna were achieved simultaneously. The designed monopole antenna with a radiation element volume of 14/spl times/14/spl times/14 mm/sup 3/ has the measured bandwidth ratio of 3.87:1, from 2.83 to 10.96 GHz for VSWR/spl les/2, with fairly frequency-insensitive omni-directional radiation characteristics.     

漏波天线中阻带的应用及抑制

周期性结构会引入阻带.有些阻带对有些漏波天线有用,如可用于抑制某些不需要的传播模.但阻带对大部分周期性漏波天线是不利的,如边射阻带使得主波束在边射方向不能连续扫描.文中讨论了周期性结构阻带在漏波天线中的应用及抑制.给出了一个阻带应用实例:微带漏波天线一般工作于EH1模,在激励其EH1模时往往会激发不希望的EH0模,在微...     

基于MEMS开关的方向图可重构天线的设计

设计了一种波束可重构天线,以实现宽带、宽角方向图可重构设计。该天线由4组具有不同波束指向的天线子阵组成,通过6个RF-MEMS开关控制其波束指向;采用的宽带单元天线,在2.4 GHz～3.4 GHz频率范围内(相对带宽34.5%),电压驻波比小于2。馈电网络的设计采用小型化宽带阻抗变换器,减小了馈电网络尺寸,并拓展了带宽。仿真结果表明,可重构天线实现了0°,25°,40°和50°的不同波束指向,除部分频点外,4种状态天线的驻波在2.5 GHz～3.25 GHz(相对带宽26%)带宽内驻波比均小于2。     

Active Integrated Antenna Design Using a Contact-Less, Proximity Coupled, Differentially Fed Technique

A novel contact-less, differential feeding technique suitable for integrated active antenna design is demonstrated. This technique utilizes an odd mode signal to generate fringing fields on either side of a microstrip gap under the antenna. This allows electromagnetic energy to be efficiently coupled from the transmission lines to the radiating antenna. In a balanced integrated antenna amplifier configuration, the proposed non-contact feeding method removes the need for any balun or power combining network. Hence in theory, a compact RF front-end design with lower losses can be realized. This feeding method has been successfully applied to the design of simple passive microstrip patch antennas and active integrated antennas (AIA). Simulated and measured results are also included to validate the proposed feeding concept and antenna designs. The performance of the proposed differential feeding technique on a simple microstrip patch antenna has been systematically studied. The study suggests that the proposed proximity method is broadband in nature, allowing antennas operating at different resonant frequencies to be swapped without the need to change the feed dimensions and without degrading the matching performance     

Integration of ultra-wideband slot antenna on LTCC substrate

An ultra-wideband slot antenna realised in low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) technology is reported. The antenna is developed for a single-package solution of ultra-wideband radio. The radiating element of the antenna has a shape of ellipse 11 mm wide and 17 mm long. It shares the ground plane with other radio circuitry and is fed through a microstrip line 41 mm long and 3 mm wide. The experimental result shows that the prototype antenna achieved a bandwidth of 7.6 GHz (return loss S11/spl les/-10 dB or VSWR 2:1 from 3 to 10.6 GHz). The antenna radiation patterns at 3.5, 6.85 and 10.1 GHz are also presented.     

Sum/difference beam duplexer for coupled tapered slot-line antenna

A successful design for a sum/difference beam duplexer used as the feed network of a coupled tapered slot-line antenna (CTSA) is presented. VSWR/spl les/1.5:1 was obtained at both the sum and difference ports over the 33.4-36.0 GHz frequency range. An isolation of -25.0 dB was obtained between the sum and difference ports over the range 33.2-37.6 GHz.     

Circular polarised microstrip patch antennas for broadband and dual-band operation

A novel design of microstrip patch antennas for circular polarisation (CP) is proposed. As an example, two CP patch antennas are investigated: a broadband CP patch antenna and a dual-band CP patch antenna. The proposed structure can be achieved by embedding circular holes in the microstrip circular resonator. By changing the size and position of loaded holes, two orthogonal modes are simultaneously excited with equal amplitude and /spl plusmn/90/spl deg/ out of phase. Without any 90/spl deg/ phase-shifter, the proposed CP patch antennas are excited by single feed.     

新型低剖面阿基米德螺旋天线设计

设计了一款低输入阻抗的阿基米德螺旋天线。在传统阿基米德螺旋天线的始端加入宽度一定的指数螺蜷线,天线的输入阻抗得到降低,从而放松了对指数渐变微带线馈电巴仑的长度要求。该天线的输入阻抗为75Ω,这使得指数渐变微带巴仑的长度仅为22.5mm即可充分满足天线在2～10GHz频率范围内的馈电要求。天线采用深度为22.5mm(约为最大工作波长的15%)的反射背腔,测试结果表明:在2～10GHz的频率范围内,天线驻波比小于2.5,天线主辐射方向上的轴比小于4dB,方向图对称性良好。     

The sinuous antenna-A dual polarized feed for reflector-based searching systems

The sinuous antennas have a numerous applications in military and civil systems such as direction finding systems and reflector feeds due to their superior broadband characteristics and simultaneous polarization capability. In this paper, design, construction and measurements of planar sinuous antennas are investigated for 1–5 GHz frequency range. Feeding sections of this antenna are realized by using microstrip tapered baluns. We have determined the microstrip tapered balun dimensions using Ansoft HFSS-simulation program. The performances of the manufactured antenna are measured using HP vector network analyzer. Polarization patterns and return loss characteristics of the designed antenna that have been measured in anechoic chamber, are presented.     

一种宽带微带八木天线的设计

针对传统八木天线体积过大,难以与其他载体共形,相对带宽很窄的问题,设计了一种宽带微带八木天线。天线采用一种比较简单的馈电方式减小天线的尺寸,利用附加寄生贴片、振子耦合枝节和金属化孔的方式展宽频带和改善天线的阻抗匹配。使用Ansoft公司高频结构仿真器(HFSS)对天线进行仿真设计和优化,并对实物进行测试。最后结果表明,所设计、制作的天线频段在1.81~2.57 GHz内,电压驻波比(VSWR)小于2,相对带宽为31%,在2.4 GHz频率处的增益大于9 dB。仿真和测试结果显示,该宽带微带八木天线基本达到设计要求。     

Improved feeding structures to enhance the performance of the reflector impulse radiating antenna (IRA)

This paper considers the improvement of the feeding structure of the reflector impulse radiating antenna (IRA). Full-wave analysis and measured results of the orthogonal cross-coplanar plate reflector IRA shows that the aperture fields are not uniform. The arm angle is varied as an optimization factor and it is shown that the arm angle of 70/spl deg/ has the maximum radiation efficiency. The termination load and the arm tapering effects are studied using simulation and measurement results. Furthermore, the effect of radius of circle of symmetry is studied and it is shown that a greater circle provides higher gain. A combination of transverse electromagnetic (TEM) horn antenna and the conical coplanar TEM transmission line is investigated to avoid tiny structure at the focal point and make the connection between the coaxial cable and the feeding arms more convenient. It is shown that a small triangle does not degrade the antenna performance but helps to excite the antenna by a coaxial cable. Finally a combination of the Vivaldi antenna and the coplanar transmission line is introduced to improve the antenna performance. The simulation results for the new antenna show that the antenna efficiency is improved to 45% at the frequency band between 2 GHz to 6 GHz in comparison to the 20.9% for the traditional design and 29.7% for the tapered design. The calculated far-field results of all these antennas are used to radiate a 0.5 ns impulse. The radiated impulse from the Vivaldi fed reflector IRA is 3.55, 2.41, and 2.12 dB higher than the same radiated impulses from the reflector IRA fed by a 45/spl deg/ traditional feeding arms, 70/spl deg/ traditional feeding arms, and 70/spl deg/ tapered feeding arms, respectively.     

Ultrawideband Circularly Polarized Spiral Antenna Using Integrated Balun With Application to Time-Domain Target Detection

The design of a wideband circularly polarized (CP) equiangular spiral antenna is described. Contrary to the conventional spiral antenna using the coaxial line or the vertically connected feeding structure, a tapered microstrip balun is fully integrated into one spiral arm of the proposed antenna and hence this construction can be realized completely planar. The measured results show that the return loss is better than 10 dB from 3.75 to 18.6 GHz, the axial ratio is below 3 dB from 3 to 14.5 GHz, the radiation is bidirectional with opposite polarization, and the antenna peak gain is 3.5 to 7 dBic. The time-domain characteristic of the transmitting/receiving system using the proposed ultrawideband (UWB) CP antennas is investigated by transient response. The pulse distortion is insignificant and is verified by the measured antenna performance with high signal fidelity ($geq 0.89$) and low variation of group delay ($leq 0.1~{rm ns}$ ). The transmitting/receiving antenna system using the proposed antennas is constructed to demonstrate the CP characterization and to detect the target position.      

Broadband circularly polarized rectangular loop antenna with impedance matching

A broadband circularly polarized rectangular loop antenna is developed. The broadband performance is achieved by adding a pair of parasitic loops inside the rectangular loop. Good impedance matching is obtained by introducing a broadband balun. The proposed rectangular loop has a bandwidth of 46% for axial ratio/spl les/2dB and 50% for VSWR/spl les/2 with a gain of around 8dBi.     

Synthesis method for broad-band tapered wire antennas and itsexperimental verification

A method for synthesizing the geometry of extremely broadband tapered wire antennas used as part of a broadband spectrometer for millimeter and submillimeter waves is presented. The antenna is designed to have a nearly constant gain and a low voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR) over a bandwidth of at least 20:1. After the synthesis, the characteristics of the antenna are analyzed by the moment method using a system of reaction integrals as described by Richmond (1974). An antenna version with resistively loaded ends of the wires has a mean gain of 5.7 dBi and a maximum gain variation of ±1.25 dB. The VSWR is equal to 1.7 over almost the entire frequency range peaking only to 2.6 at the lowest frequency. These theoretical results were verified by measurements in the frequency range from 1 to 18 GHz with a scaled model of the tapered wire antenna     

Broad-band suspended probe-fed plate antenna with low cross-polarization levels

A new feeding scheme for enhancing the radiation performance of a suspended plate antenna with a broad bandwidth is presented experimentally. By means of a probe-fed half-wavelength strip, the high cross-polarization levels of the suspended plate antenna are suppressed effectively, which result mainly from the undesired excitation of higher-order modes. Measurements on the antenna with the proposed feeding structure have demonstrated the good performances with a high ratio of co- to cross-polarization levels and stable radiation patterns across a 20% bandwidth for VSWR/spl les/2 : 1.     

Circularly-polarised microstrip leaky-wave antenna

A novel circularly polarised microstrip leaky-wave antenna is proposed and tested. Two linear polarised orthogonal dual-terminals feeding microstrip leaky-wave antennas are fed with equal amplitude and 90deg phase difference to generate the two orthogonal modes. The measured results show that the antenna achieves circular polarisation efficiently.     

Quasi Microstrip Leaky-Wave Antenna With a Two-Dimensional Beam-Scanning Capability

A quasi microstrip leaky-wave antenna (QMLWA) with a two-dimensional (2-D) beam-scanning capability is presented in this paper. QMLWA consists of two half-width microstrip leaky-wave antennas with a phase-shifter. This new type of microstrip leaky-wave antenna has the advantages of reducing size, 2-D beam-scanning and suppressing back lobes. The main lobe scanning in H-plane ($y-z$ plane) is achieved through varying the operating frequency. When the operating frequency increases from 4.4–6 GHz, the main lobe scans from 84 $^{circ}$ to 26 $^{circ}$ in H-plane continuously. The main lobe steers in quasi-E-plane with varying the phase difference between two half-width microstrip leaky-wave antennas. The lobe scans from 78$^{circ}$ to 103$^{circ}$ in quasi-E-plane at 5.4 GHz. The experimental results show this short QMLWA (about 2 wavelengths) leaks power effectively. The back lobe in H-plane of QMLWA is suppressed 13 dB as compared with the conventional whole width MLWA at 5.4 GHz as example. The H-plane radiation characteristics of QMLWA are mainly determined by the width $s$ of half-width MLWA and the distance $D$ between two half-width MLWA together. This size-reduced QMLWA is useful in the automotive radar system and air traffic control.