Broadband Microstrip Leaky Wave Antenna With Inhomogeneous Materials

Analytical solutions for the fields and propagation constant in an open microstrip line above an inhomogeneous substrate are derived and the finite element method (FEM) is used as a tool to validate the theory. Excellent agreement between theoretical and simulated results is obtained and the theory...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation 2009-05, Vol.57 (5), p.1558-1562
Main Authors: Hai Jiang, Penno, R., Pasala, K.M., Kempel, L., Schneider, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air gaps
Antennas
Applied sciences
Computational modeling
Computer simulation
Dielectric constant
Driving point impedance
Exact sciences and technology
Finite element method
Finite element methods
Impedance
inhomogeneous materials
Leaky wave antennas
Leaky waves
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Microstrip antennas
microstrip leaky-wave antennas (LWAs)
Microstrip lines
Propagation constant
Radiocommunications
Resonance
Telecommunications
Telecommunications and information theory
Transmission line measurements
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Summary:Analytical solutions for the fields and propagation constant in an open microstrip line above an inhomogeneous substrate are derived and the finite element method (FEM) is used as a tool to validate the theory. Excellent agreement between theoretical and simulated results is obtained and the theory is used to determine the driving point impedances. The complex propagation constant corresponding to the leaky mode is derived from the fields computed using the FEM technique and compared to the values obtained using the transverse resonance method (TRM). It is demonstrated that by periodically loading the microstrip line with air gaps and keeping the period much less than a wavelength, it is possible to realize a leaky wave antenna with lower dielectric constant whose bandwidth is increased by a factor of approximately 50% or so. The proposed inhomogeneous LWA has been fabricated, and measured with results corroborating the theory shown here.
ISSN:0018-926X
1558-2221
DOI:10.1109/TAP.2009.2016785