A periodic microstrip radial antenna array with a conical beam

The analysis and design of a microstrip antenna array with a conical beam are presented. The antenna array employs a periodic structure derived from the microstrip on a perforated ground plane. The microstrip antenna array consists of eight leaky lines evenly distributed around a circle. Each line radiates mainly a pair of forward and backward beams, forming a conical beam. The new leaky line design employs the concept of space-harmonic modulation on the EH0 mode launched at the common joint of the antenna array. The scattering and dispersion characteristics of the leaky line are thoroughly investigated. The fact that the perturbation of the antisymmetric holes made by photolithographic etching excites the leaky EH1 mode is theoretically and experimentally validated. Scattering analyses of the surface currents on the microstrip, however, reveal in detail the physical operation of the leaky line. The dispersion characteristics are, thus, established and shown in a Brillouin diagram, indicating the role of each space harmonic, denoted by its complex propagation constant gamma(m,n)(+/-). gamma(m,n)(+/-) represents a traveling-wave component of the nth higher-order spatial component in association with the EHm mode: the superscript, + signifies a forward (backward) traveling wave. For the particular leaky line design, gamma(0)(+),(-1) and gamma(1,0)(+) space barmonics, both showing odd-symmetric field polarization, and both outside the triangular Brillouin region, form the backward and forward leaky waves, respectively. When the leaky lines are evenly and collinearly tied, an 11.5-GHz radial antenna array prototype is formed, and emits a conical beam, showing a 3-dB beamwidth of 24degrees at the flare angle of 31degrees.