Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-023-07974-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE–COMPUTER ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

Miniaturized Slow-Wave SIW-Based Circularly Polarized CRLH Leaky

Wave Antenna Array Supporting Wide Angle Beam Scanning for Radar
Applications
Ruchi Agarwal1,2 · Sushrut Das1 · R. L. Yadava2

Received: 9 February 2023 / Accepted: 23 May 2023

© King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals 2023

Abstract
This paper presents a multi-layered composite right-left-handed (CRLH) slow-wave substrate integrated waveguide (SW-
SIW) circularly polarized (CP) leaky-wave antenna (LWA) having wide impedance bandwidth (measured: 14.6–18.25 GHz).
The CRLH unit cell consists of three radiating slots on top metallic layer, arranged in a crown-shaped fashion, to achieve
wideband circular polarization.The bottom ground plane of the standard SIW is connected to the SW structure of the LWA that
consists of internal metalized blind vias. Due to the SW effect, a 33% reduction in lateral dimension is achieved, compared
to a conventional SIW having the same cut-off frequency. At the same time, the phase velocity is also reduced leading to a
reduction in longitudinal dimensions. The dimensions of the antenna are relatively small, with a size of 3.2 × 0.4x.07 λ3 .
The operating mechanism of the LWA having symmetrical and continuous backward-to-forward scanning range from −64 °
to 64 ° (128 °) is explained by an equivalent circuit model. The measured CP bandwidth (14.6–18.43 GHz) of the LWA
completely overlaps the 10-dB return loss bandwidth. The compact dimension, wide symmetric beam scanning, completely
overlapped CP, and return loss bandwidths are the major advantages of the proposed antenna.The LWA exhibits stable gain
with a peak value of 11.3 dBic (gain variation: from 9.7 to 11.3 dB). The radiation efficiency of the LWA is above 85% within
the impedance bandwidth.

Keywords Circular polarization · Leaky wave antenna array · Substrate integrated waveguide · Composite right/left-hand
transmission lines · Beam steering · Slow-wave · High gain

1 Introduction such SIW-LWAs often fail to do broadside scanning due to

the open-stopband (OSB) problem [10–12]. Several meth-
Recently, substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) based leaky ods have been employed to overcome this issue such as
wave antenna (LWA) design has gotten the wide attention of implementing asymmetric unit cells [13, 14] and the use
radar antenna designers because of its frequency scanning of a balanced composite right/left-handed transmission line
property, low cost, planar structure, and low profile [1–9]. (CRLH TL) structure [15–22]. Among them, the latter turned
But, during backward-to-forward frequency beam scanning, out to be the most popular method. In [15], a CRLH SIW-
LWA is proposed using a square ring slot radiator. The LWA
B Ruchi Agarwal can deliver continuous beam scanning from −57 ° to 30 ° with
[email protected] a reduced cross-polarization level. Sarkar et al. proposed a
Sushrut Das small CRLH structure based on a complementary split-ring
[email protected] resonator for continuous beam scanning in Ku-band [16].
R. L. Yadava Karmokar et al. proposed a wide beam scanning CRLH SIW
[email protected] LWA by using cross slots [17]. In [18], an eye-shaped trans-
1 verse slot element LWA with linearly varying phase constant
Electronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
(Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India is presented. As a result, there is continuous forward-to-
2 backward beam scanning. An inverted Z-shaped slot based
Electronics and Communication Engineering, Galgotias
College of Engineering and Technology, Greater Noida, U.P, miniaturized SIW LWA provides fast beam scanning is sug-
India gested in [19] that attains low side low level below 12 dB. In

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[20] a novel SIW-LWA for continuous beam scanning for tri in SIW TLs can reduce the size of SIW-based networks and
bands is presented. The proposed design achieve smaller size antennas. In [34] multi-antipodal blind vias with longitudinal
and high gain along with a wider scanning range (117°) capa- shorting metal strips are used to attain SW effects. In [35]
bility. A conformal transverse slotted SIW-LWA sensor with SW structure is implemented to reduce phase velocity and
uniform slots is investigated where approximately 80° beam cut-off frequency by 50 and 55%, respectively. Based on the
scanning is obtained in curved version, whereas 110° beam concept of the ridge rectangular waveguide, In [28], the ridge
steering is achieved with the planar version [21]. A 1-D slot SIW (RSIW) is presented, which reduces the lateral size of
array LWA based on SIW has been proposed by Kamorkar SIW by 40% by loading a row of metalized blind via-holes
et al. [22] for wideband scanning and OSB suppression. and a metal strip attached to the blind via-holes in the mid-
Satellite and radar systems often prefer circularly polar- dle of SIW. Recently, a framework in SW-SIW is proposed
ized (CP) LWAs to reduce the multipath interruption problem to improve the SW factor (SWF) [36]. Effective permittiv-
and the polarisation mismatch problem. But, LWAs are gen- ity and permeability were simultaneously improved by using
erally wideband and achieving CP radiation throughout its blind vias. The structure’s phase velocity is decreased by
return loss bandwidth is a challenging task. Shi et al. [23] 73%. A unique multilayer wide-beam scanning LWA based
suggested a CP LWA for the Ku band. The LWA is designed on SW-SIW was recently proposed in [37]. The proposed
on the ridge gap waveguide structure and achieves less than LWA, having return loss bandwidth 23.7–28.1 GHz, has a
1.5 dB axial ratio with a stable gain response. An array of compact volume of 6.6 × 0.41 × 0.07 λ3 and when com-
T-shaped interdigital (ID) slots make up the SIW LWA [24], pared to the traditional SIW it results in a 35% reduction in
which produces the CRLH characteristic with CP. The LWA the lateral dimensions.
achieves frequency beam scanning from −19 ° to + 84 ° The literature survey reveals that it is a big challenge for
using the return loss bandwidth of 7.35 to 10.15 GHz. A antenna designers to enhance the scanning range of a LWA
SIW based CP LWA with 97.1 ° beam scan capability is pre- while maintaining the symmetry between its backward and
sented in [25]. However, its gain varies between 8 and 11.3 forward scan range, continuous beam scanning property, CP
dBi. A multi-layered SIW-based CP LWA with H-shaped ID radiation over the entire return loss bandwidth, compact size,
slots that can scan an angular range from −38° to 71° and has and moderate-to-high gain. Therefore, a high-gain compact
a 2.3 GHz 3-dB ARBW has recently been proposed [26]. In CP LWA has been proposed in this work that has a contin-
[27] Hong et al. proposed an air-filled SIW-based wideband uous, symmetric, and wide scanning range over the entire
antenna that attains beam scanning from −13 ° to 28 °. The return loss bandwidth. This makes the proposed LWA noble
proposed antenna exhibits CP with 10 dBic peak gain. compared to the others. The concept of SW-SIW and CRLH-
One of the major issues associated with the discussed LWA TL has been used along with a new slot geometry to achieve
designs [24, 26, 27] is an asymmetric backward and forward the target. To the best of the knowledge of the authors, there
scanning range. Some of the LWAs, reported in the literature is no reported compact CP SW-SIW LWA that has more than
[28–32], have tried to solve this. A double-layered SIW LWA 60° scanning range in both the forward and backward direc-
is proposed in [28] to achieve a high scan rate with almost tions (total 120°), including the broadside direction, as well
symmetric main beam scanning from −52 ° to + 49 °. In [29] as CP over the entire return loss bandwidth.
groove gap waveguide (GWG)-based Butler Matrix (BMs) This paper is organized as follows. In Section II, the evolu-
are developed to attain a symmetric scanning range from − tion of the CRLH SW-SIW unit cell and its guiding principles
41 ° to + 41 ° while making a trade-off in LWA size. In [30] are described. The development of the full-length CRLH-
proposes a back-to-front scanning LWA based on CRLH- SIW-based LWA is explained in Section III. The simulated
TL. Continuous symmetrical beam scanning from −29 ° to and measured results of the antenna are shown in Section IV.
+ 30 ° around the broadside direction is achieved with less Finally, Section V draws specific conclusions.
than 2 dB gain variation across the return loss bandwidth. In
order to produce CP with nearly symmetric beam scanning
from −32 ° to + 34 °, a slow-wave spoof surface plasmon 2 CRLH SW-SIW LWA Unit Cell
polaritons (SPPs) line is created [23]. Liu et al. [32] presented
a dual-band planar antenna operating in the Ku/Ka bands, 2.1 Analysis of Unit Cell
with relatively wide and symmetrical scan angles ranging
from −45 ° to 45 °, with low gain and sidelobe levels. A schematic diagram of the proposed SW-SIW-LWA unit cell
Another primary disadvantage of an LWA is its large is shown in Fig. 1. It is developed on a two-layered Rogers
lateral & longitudinal dimensions, which limits its use in RT5880 substrate with a relative dielectric constant of 2.2,
compact systems. Therefore, several solutions have been sug- loss tangent 0.0009, and thickness h1 = h2 = 0.413 mm. The
gested and examined to reduce the dimensions. In [33] it is two rows of periodic metallic vias that extend from the top
shown that the introduction of the slow-wave (SW) effect of the higher substrate to the bottom of the lower substrate

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Fig. 1 Geometrical description of

the SW-SIW LWA: a Top layer
with crown slots, b Side view
with five internal via-holes

Table 1 Dimensions of SW-SIW

TL CRLH-based unit cell Units: Variable d db d1 h1 h2 S Sb
mm
Value 6 .4 .75 .4 .4 .8 .8
Variable w W1 W2 L2 L1 P θs
Value 6.6 1 .9 4 .5 9 30o

(shown in yellow colour) produce the SIW, in contrast to the

five additional rows of periodic metallic blind vias that extend
from the top to the bottom of the lower substrate and imple-
ment the SW effect [2–4]. On the top of the upper layer, a slot
triplet has been etched in a crown-shaped pattern to radiate
the dominant mode field within the SW-SIW. Table 1 lists the
results of the parametric analysis of the structure performed
using the CST Microwave Studio software to determine the
values of the various geometrical parameters of the unit cell.

2.2 Equivalent circuit model

The unit cell is a short length (p) SW-SIW structure with three
slots on its top surface, which provide the necessary left-
handed series capacitance (CL ) of the equivalent CRLH-TL. Fig. 2 Equivalent circuit of the compact CRLH- LWA unit cell with
The SIW vias provide the left-handed shunt inductance (LL1 ). blind vias. CL = 22.73 fF, LR = 4.194 nH, LL1 = 77 pH, LL2 = 1nH,
The top and bottom metal surfaces of the SIW can be mod- CR1 = 1.3482 pF, CR2 = 1.3 pF
elled as a conventional two-wire TL having a right-handed
series inductance LR and right-handed shunt capacitance
CR1. In addition, the metallic blind vias, those that provide LH property along with the shunt inductances, resulting in a
the SW effect, can be represented as a series LC-network balanced condition for a continuous back-to-forward beam
with left-handed inductance (LL2 ) in shunt and right-handed scanning property [24, 26]. Therefore, the dimensions of the
capacitance (CR2 ). As a result of current passing through the slots, SIW structure, and metallic blind vias should be opti-
blind vias, they become inductive, causing the LL2 to appear, mized very carefully to meet the condition. The optimized
whereas CR2 appears due to the finite capacitance between values of different geometrical parameters of the SW-SIW
the top SIW layer and the top of the metallic blind vias. The unit cell are tabulated in Table 1 whereas its equivalent cir-
slot’s primary purpose is to radiate or "leak" power, but they cuit model is presented in Fig. 2. The resistance Rr , in parallel
should also have enough series capacitance to implement the to CL , incorporates the loss due to the leakage of power.

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Fig. 4 Electric field distribution for the a SW-SIW b Conventional SIW

Fig. 3 A comparison Dispersion curve of the CRLH SW-SIW unit cell

2.3 Dispersion Characteristics of the Unit Cell

The dispersion curve of the unit cell has been obtained with
the help of Eqs. (1) and (2) expressed in [19] and is plotted
in Fig. 3.
   
 1 − S11 S22 + S12 S21 
β p =  I m cos−1  (1)
2S 21
   
 1 − S11 S22 + S12 S21 
α p = Re cos−1  (2)
2S 21

Here, p is the period, and β and α are the unit cell’s effective Fig. 5 Magnetic field distribution for the a SW-SIW b Conventional
SIW
phase constant and attenuation constant, respectively. The
required S-parameter data have been obtained by simulating
the structure in CST Microwave Studio.
is plotted in Fig. 3 for comparison purposes, which shows a
It may be noted from Fig. 3 that the air-line divides the dis-
fair agreement between them.
persion curve into two distinct zones, namely the slow-wave
or guided-wave zone (vp < c) and the fast-wave or leaky-
wave zone (vp > c). The guided-wave zone is located above 2.4 Slow-Wave Effect
the airline (f < 14.4 GHz) whereas the leaky-wave zone is
located below the airline (f > 14.4 GHz). The fast-wave zone The electric and magnetic field distributions in SW-SIW
is divided into a right-handed region (above 16.5 GHz) and a and a conventional SIW, obtained by simulating the struc-
left-handed region (below 16.5 GHz) by broadside frequency tures in the CST Microwave studio software, are shown in
(16.5 GHz). The LH and RH regions gradually meet at Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. Figure 4 reveals that the electric
the broadside frequency, without any open stopband (OSB), field of SW-SIW is mainly concentrated within the upper
causing a continuous backward-to-forward scan. Broadside substrate whereas for a conventional SIW the electric field
radiation approaches the such state, which is referred to as is almost uniform throughout the substrate. This is due to
the "Balanced Condition". Furthermore, it can be seen in the additional capacitance formed between the top metal-
Fig. 3 that within the radiation region, α < 0.1 indicates less lic plane and the top of the blind vias of the SW-SIW. The
attenuation in the radiating region. additional capacitance increases the overall capacitance or
The equivalent circuit of the unit cell (Fig. 2) is simulated effective permittivity of the upper substrate. According to
in Advanced Designed System (ADS) 2019 software to find Fig. 5, the magnetic field is concentrated mainly around the
its dispersion characteristic. The obtained dispersion curve metallic vias for both SW-SIW and conventional SIW, but

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Fig. 6 Normalized SW-SIW phase velocity for various h2 /h values Fig. 8 Axial ratio variation for different values of θs
while maintaining h constant

Fig. 9 Axial ratio variation for different values of d1

where εr denotes the substrate’s relative permittivity. The

wave’s phase velocity (v p, SW −S I W ) in the SW-SIW is
affected by the change in effective permittivity and can be
written as [30].
Fig. 7 Field distribution on the a transverse slot and b tilted slot pair c0
v p, SW −S I W = (4)
f c, SW −S I W 2
εe f f 1 − f
for SW-SIW it falls very rapidly towards the center com-
pared to a conventional SIW. This is due to The SW-SIW’s
net inductance being changed by the increased conductive where c0 represents the wave velocity in free space. The TE10
current flowing through the blind vias. Reduced cut-off fre- mode cut-off frequency of the SW-SIW can be expressed as
quency, decreased phase velocity, and increased slow-wave [38].
factor are the overall effects (SWF). The relationcan be
 used c0
to compute the SW-SIW’s effective permittivity εe f f using f c, SW −S I W = √ (5)
2w εe f f
the Eq. (3) [38]:
Since f c, SW −S I W < f c, S I W and εe f f > εr v p, SW −S I W ,
 
h2 < v p, S I W . Therefore, the structure becomes more compact
εe f f = εr 1+ (3) in width and length. The phase delay and cut-off frequency
h1

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Fig. 10 Simulated Surface

current distribution of the unit
cell at 16.4 GHz for ωt a 0°,
b 90°, c 180°, and d 270o

Fig. 11 Top view of proposed CRLH-LWA with dimensions: L = 59, P = 7, Lin = 2.5, Lt = 2.5, Win = 2.4, Wt = 2.8. All units are in mm

of SW-SIW are reduced by 33% in comparison to a stan- the h2 /h1 ratio and hence εe f f increase with an increase of
dard SIW of the same lateral width (w1) and height (h = h2. As a result, the phase velocity decreases.
h1 + h2) when h1 = 0.4 mm and h2 = 0.4 mm as shown
in Eqs. (4) and (5). f c, S I W and v p, S I W are cut-off frequency 2.5 CP Mechanism of LWA
and phase velocity of a conventional SIW while carrying the
TE10 mode. The proposed crown-shaped slot triplet consists of verti-
The plots of the normalized phase velocities (VP /Co ) ver- cal and horizontal linearly polarized (LP) radiating slots, as
sus frequency for various h2/h values (h = h1 + h2) are shown shown in Fig. 7a, b. It can be shown that such slot triplets
in Fig. 6 which explains how the phase velocity is affected can result in CP radiation, as elaborated in [39]. The ampli-
by the height of blind vias (h2) (Co and h are constant). It tude of the E-field components from these two structures can
shows that the phase velocity decreases with an increase of be made equal with a 90 ° phase difference between them
h2 . This can be explained as follows. Since ‘h’ is constant, by adjusting the slot parameters. Although the vertical LP
an increase of h2 corresponds to a decrease of h1 . Therefore, structure’s radiation can be regulated by changing its length,
the horizontal LP structure’s radiation can be controlled by

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Fig. 12 Bloch impedance variation over frequency of the CRLH unit

cell Fig. 14 Comparison of the LWA’s simulated |S11| responses without
and with the slow wave effect

angle and distance of the tilted slots play a major role in

implementing the CP characteristics.
In order to determine the sense of circular polarization,
the simulated vector surface current distributions on the unit
cell at 16.4 GHz for four different time phase intervals (ωt =
0, 90, 180, and 270 °) are plotted in Fig. 10. It is observed that
with increasing time, the surface current rotates in a clock-
wise manner. Therefore, the unit cell has left-hand circular
polarization (LHCP).

3 SW-SIW CRLH LWA Configuration

The schematic representation for the full-length LWA along

with various geometrical parameters is illustrated in Fig. 11.
It has been formed by periodically inserting seven-unit cells
Fig. 13 Simulated Gain of the proposed LWA over frequency for various with a periodicity of p. To generate a traveling slot array and
numbers of unit-cells
keep homogeneity, p must be less than λ/4. In the dispersion
diagram, periodicity controls the air-line slop (2pf/c0 ) and is
defined by the LH zone of the LWA. A tapered line section
changing its tilt angle. Further, the distance between the ver- has been used to achieve a wideband matching between the
tical and horizontal LP slots can be adjusted to achieve the antenna input impedance and 50 Ohm feed line.
desired 90 ° phase difference as well as to meet the reflection- The Bloch impedance of the unit cell (Fig. 12) provides
canceling condition during boresight radiation. The vertical useful information for impedance matching of the full-length
LP structure has been placed in between the horizontal LP LWA. It can be retrieved from the unit cell’s S-parameter data
structures to achieve a stable and acceptable axial ratio. using Eq. (6) [24, 26];
To investigate the effect of the tilted slots on the axial ratio
characteristics of the unit cell, a parametric analysis of the 2 j Z 0 S21 sin(β p)
ZB = (6)
structure is performed. Figures 8 and 9 show the axial ratio (1 − S11 )(1 − S22 ) − S12 S21
responses of the antenna for different θs and d1 , respectively.
The figures reveal that we get optimum performance for θs = Here the Z0 is the S- matrix reference’s impedance (50
30 ° and d1 = 0.75 mm; if we deviate from these values, the ).
axial ratio degrades. This is due to the fact that the conditions Within the entire radiating region, the average real part of
for circular polarization do not satisfy properly. Thus, the the Bloch impedance is found to be 45.8. This value is used

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Fig. 15 Photographs of fabricated LWA

Fig. 16 Measurement setup. a S-parameters measurement setup. b Antenna under test in the anechoic chamber

Fig. 17 Measured and simulated S-parameter responses

Fig. 18 Measured and simulated scan angle of the LWA

to determine one of the widths of the tapered line matching

network. Over the RH radiating region, the imaginary part adequate number of unit cells. Figure 13 displays the antenna
of the Bloch impedance is very close to zero, providing a gain for various numbers of unit cells. It reveals that after n =
good matching. The SIW vias’ inductive properties may bal- 7, the gain of the LWA appears to be saturated. Consequently,
ance the negative value of the SIW over the LH radiating in this study, seven-unit cells have been considered for the
region. The first unit cell’s position can be varied to enhance formation of the LWA.
reactance matching. The simulated |S11 | responses of the LWA, without and
To radiate the full amount of power, the LWA must be with the blind vias, are plotted in Fig. 14. It demonstrates that
long enough. Therefore, the LWA needs to be created with an a typical SIW LWA has an impedance bandwidth between

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the LWA are found to be 3.80 GHz (14.15–17.95 GHz) and

4.0 GHz (14.3–18.3 GHz), respectively. The measured and
simulated responses varied slightly because of the parasitic
effects of soldering in the SMA connections and vias.
The LWA’s scanning behavior is shown in Fig. 18. The
main beam scan angle can be found using the Eq. (7) [24]:
 
β(ω)
θ ( f ) = sin −1 (7)
k0

The equation reveals that (i) for β(ω) < 0, θ is negative,

which corresponds to a backward scan angle, (ii) for β(ω) =
0, θ = 0, which corresponds to a broadside scan angle, and
(iii) for β(ω) > 0, θ is positive, which corresponds to a
forward scan angle. When the input frequency changes from
Fig. 19 Gain and radiation efficiency of the LWA 14.6 to 18.25 GHz in measurement / 14.3 to 18.3 GHz in
simulation, the main beam continuously scans the angle from
−64 ° to 64 ° including the broadside direction. Symmetric
scanning is one of the interesting features of the proposed
LWA because most of the reported LWAs in the literature
have an asymmetric scanning range. The LWA has a scanning
range of 128 °, which is more than all the literature included
in Table 2. Furthermore, the LWA has a measured scanning
bandwidth of 3.55 GHz, which is higher than [5, 10, 11, 28,
32, 40].
The measured and simulated peak realized gains of the
LWA are compared in Fig. 19. The maximum measured gain
is 11.3 dBic. The gain variation within the scan bandwidth is
from 9.7 dBic to 11.3 dBic (total gain variation = 1.6 dB).
The average radiation efficiency of the LWA is more than
85% with a maximum of 87%, which is higher than [10, 11,
18, 28, 32].
The variation of the axial ratio (AR) response over the
Fig. 20 Simulated and Measured ARs of the proposed CP LWA at the frequency is plotted in Fig. 20. The 3-dB AR bandwidth
main beam
(ARBW) of the LWA is 3.83 GHz in measurement (from 14.6
to 18.43 GHz) and 3.75 GHz in simulation (from 14.45 to
21.35 and 26.3 GHz while the SW-SIW LWA has a bandwidth 18.2 GHz). Therefore, the measured 3 dB ARBW completely
between 14.3 and 18.3 GHz (for h2/h = 0.50). As a result, covers the 10 dB return loss bandwidth. This is another major
The SW-SIW LWA operates in a reduced frequency range. advantage of the proposed design.
This is equivalent to a 33% reduction in the antenna’s lateral The simulated and measured normalized LHCP and
dimensions for a 50% drop in the relative height of blind vias. RHCP radiation patterns of the CP LWA at different fre-
quency points in the XZ plane are reported in Fig. 21.
It demonstrates that when the frequency is changed from
4 Measurements 14.3 GHz to 18.3 GHz, the main beam scans the angular
range from −64 ° to 64 °, including the broadside direction.
The picture of the fabricated LWA is displayed in Fig. 15. SLL (side lobe level) is less than −12 dB.
The prototype verification is accomplished by a comparison A comparison of the characteristics of the proposed CP
of measured and simulated results. S-parameters were mea- SW-SIW LWA with similar other reported LWAs is provided
sured using a PNA − N5241B VNA, as shown in Fig. 16a. in Table 2 to highlight the advantages of the proposed SW-
The antenna’s radiation pattern was measured at an anechoic SIW LWA. This comparison brings us to the conclusion that
chamber, as shown in Fig. 16b. The antenna’s simulated and the suggested SW-SIW LWA antenna offers a decent bal-
measured |S11| and |S21| responses are compared in Fig. 17. ance between size and performance. The proposed LWA is
The measured and simulated 10 dB return loss bandwidths of more compact than almost all the LWAs reported in Table 2.

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Fig. 21 Normalized radiation

pattern of the antenna a −64°/
14.3 GHz, b −24°/15.5 GHz,
c 0°/ 16.5 GHz, d 20°/ 16.9 GHz,
e 31°/17.4 GHz, f 64°/ 18.3 GHz

In summary, most of the CP antennas mentioned in Table 2 5 Conclusion

are realized based on SIW, and these antennas have excel-
lent CP and radiation performance. However, the CP-LWA, This paper presents a LWA with continuous symmetric wide-
proposed in this paper, has better AR bandwidth, miniatur- angle backward-to-forward beam scanning capability and a
ized antenna dimensions, symmetrical beam scanning, and wide 10 dB return loss bandwidth, based on a CRLH SW-
sufficient gain than previous proposals, allowing very high SIW structure. The blind vias are used to achieve the SW
radiation efficiency. It is rare to find a wide-angle symmetri- effect, which results in a 33% reduction in the lateral and lon-
cal beam scanning altogether. gitudinal dimensions of the SW-SIW structure compared to
conventional SIW. A slot triplet, arranged in a crown-shaped
pattern, has been used to achieve the left-handed circular
polarization, The observed CP bandwidth (14.6–18.43 GHz)
of LWA completely overlaps the 10 dB return loss bandwidth.

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 Table 2 Proposed SW-SIW based CRLH leaky wave antenna performance comparison

Ref Bandwidth Dimension of Total scan angle Symmetric Gain (dBic) Efficiency (%) CP Broadside Substrate material
Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering

array(λ x λ) scanning scanning

[5] 15.5–18 4 × .38 −30° to 45o (75°) No 11–14 90 LP Yes Rogers duroid 5880
[10] 16 to 18 9.8 × 1.2 33° to 46° (13°) No 13 80 CP No Aluminum plate
[11] 10.3–12.3 11.4X 1.9 5° to 80° (75°) No 17.6–20.6 78 LP F4BMX220
[18] 9.1–13 4 × .55 −56° to 39° (95°) No 11.3 65 LP Yes Rogers duroid 5880
[20] 10–18.22 7.5 × − 58° to 59° (117°) Yes 14.50 – LP Yes Rogers duroid 5880
[40] a) 9.0–10.7 b) 11.5 × 1.6 + 107° to + 167° No 10 – a) LP No Rogers RO4003C
13.4–16.2 (60°) & − 41° to − b) CP
114o (73°)
[27] 12–18 16 × 1.5 28° to − 13° (41°) No 10.30 – CP Yes Rogers5880, taconic
RF-35, and FR4
[28] 12.75–.6 4.0 × 3.6 −58z to 49z(107z) yes 9.6–14.3 55 LP Yes Taconic TLY-5
[30] 8.0–12.4 12.1 × 1.1 −29° to + 30o (59°) Yes 16.1 90 LP Yes 3 M substrate
[31] 11–15 9 × 1.2 −32° to + 34° (66°) Yes 12.8 – CP Yes F4BM-2
[32] 15.9–17.7 11.7x .6 −45° to 45° (90°) Yes 4.5 55 CP Yes TSM-DS3
[37] 23.7–28.1 6.6 × 0.41 − 48° to 52° (100°) Yes 14.52 90 LP Yes Rogers duroid 5880
This 14.6–18.25 3.2 × .4 −64° to 64o (128°) Yes 11.3 87 CP Yes Rogers duroid 5880
work

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The proposed antenna has a peak gain of 11.3 dBic, and it 15. Zhang, H.; Jiao, Y.C.; Zhao, G.; Zhang, C.: CRLH-SIW-based
scans an angular range of −64 ° to 64 °. The LWA radi- leaky wave antenna with low cross-polarisation for Ku-band appli-
cations. Electron. Lett. 52(17), 1426–1428 (2016). https://doi.org/
ation efficiency is greater than 87% within the impedance 10.1049/el.2016.1825
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