1-D Wide-Angle Scanning Phased Array With Enhanced Gain and Reduced Mutual Coupling Using Thin Dielectric Superstrate

• Published in: IEEE transactions on circuits and systems. II, Express briefs Express briefs, 2024-07, Vol.71 (7), p.3303-3307
• Main Authors: Liu, Yan-Ting, Yu, Yin-Hua, Sun, Yu-Xiang, Ren, Jian, Hou, Yuefeng, Ma, Han-Qing, Wu, Wen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antenna arrays; Antenna measurements; Antenna radiation patterns; Decoupling; dielectric superstrate; Dielectrics; Directivity; Effectiveness; Gain; gain enhancement; low profile; Mutual coupling; Patch antennas; phased array; Phased arrays; Reflected waves; Substrates; wide-angle scanning
• ISSN: 1549-7747; 1558-3791
• DOI: 10.1109/TCSII.2024.3359353

A 1-D wide-angle scanning phased antenna array with enhanced gain and reduced mutual coupling by using a thin dielectric superstrate (DS) is presented. The DS can enlarge the effective aperture in the {H} -plane and improve the directivity without sacrificing the wide scan range in the {E} -plane. The directly coupled waves between the antenna elements can be cancelled out by the partially reflected waves from the DS, giving reduced mutual coupling. To demonstrate the idea, a 1\times 8 phased patch antenna array loaded with a 3-D printed DS was designed, fabricated, and measured at 10 GHz. The DS has a small thickness of 0.16~\lambda _{0} , where \lambda _{0} is the wavelength in free space. The measured realized gain is enhanced by 1.6-3 dB in the scan range of ±48° with the scan loss being less than 3.2 dB. The measured port isolation is improved by 7.4 dB.